Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/developmentofperOOchryrich 


Development  of  Personality 

A  Phase  of  the 
Philosophy  of  Education 


BY 

BROTHER  CHRYSOSTOM,  F.S.C. 


WITH  INTRODUCTION  BY 

THOMAS  W.  CHURCHILL,  LL.D. 

Former  President  of  Board  of  Education 
New  York  City 


PHILADELPHIA 
JOHN  JOSEPH  McVEY 


N.  F.  FISHER,  S.T.L., 

Censor  Librorum. 
October  26,  1916. 


*  EDMUNDUS  FRANCISCUS, 

Archiepiscopus  Philadelphierms. 
October  27,  1916. 


COPTRIOHT,     1916,    BY    JOHK    JoSEPH     McVeY. 
ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED. 


TO    THE 

Religious  Teachers  of  America 
whose  sublime  privilege  it  is  to  conserve  and  to 

DEVELOP   THE   GoD-GIVEN   FaITH 

OF  THEIR  Pupils. 


38,1014 


INTRODUCTION. 

The  following  pages  present  some  of  the  pedagog- 
ical aspects  of  an  institution  which,  for  twenty  cen- 
turies, has  devoted  itself  to  the  highest  aims  of  teach- 
ing. The  task  of  that  institution  has  ever  been  to  bring 
to  fruition  the  noblest  powers  and  capacities  of  human 
personality,  to  hold  in  check  those  tendencies  which 
militate  against  this  purpose. 

Not  hedged  in  by  national  boundaries  nor  restricted 
by  considerations  of  race  or  class,  this  service  has  not 
been  confined  to  children  of  from  five  to  fourteen  years, 
nor  have  its  purposes  been  restricted  to  the  earthly 
career  of  human  kind. 

At  a  period  when  educational  foundations  disclose 
an  attack  upon  the  religious  belief  of  teachers  and  pay 
a  premium  to  colleges  and  universities  which  will  con- 
sent to  make  open  profession  that  they  have  no  re- 
ligious creed  but  confine  themselves  to  the  exposition  of 
ethical  principles,  the  present  treatise  possesses,  in  ad- 
dition to  the  cogency  and  clarity  of  a  careful  thinker, 
a  certain  timeliness  in  its  call  to  the  consideration  of 
current  tendencies. 

Parallel  with  a  marvelous  expansion  of  educational 
service  has  come  a  widespread  anxiety  within  and  with- 
out the  church  regarding  the  dangers  of  a  gross  ma- 
terialism in  the  work  of  schools.  The  eyes  of  a  single 
generation  see  little  enough.  In  every  age  minds  which 
possess  the  inclination  and  ability  to  look  backward 


VI  iniroduction. 

and  forward  beyond  the  limits  of  a  narrow  present, 
realize  the  growing  errors  and  sound  a  note  of  warning. 

At  the  very  beginning  of  modern  education,  Com- 
enius  founds  his  system  upon  the  assertion  that  "the 
chief  aim  of  education  is  to  live  in  the  happiness  of 
God  and  in  harmony  with  His  teachings."  Pestalozzi 
would  not  have  elevation  of  the  intellect  to  be  the  chief 
end  of  education.  Its  first  influence  is  moral  and  re- 
ligious, which  to  him  were  identical.  "Reformer"  he 
was,  protesting  against  mere  systems  and  routine  from 
which  the  spirit  had  been  driven.  "Everywhere,"  he 
said,  "flesh  predominates  over  spirit.  Everywhere  the 
divine  element  is  cast  into  the  shade.  Everywhere  self- 
ishness and  passions  are  the  motives  of  action.  Every- 
where mechanical  actions  usurp  the  place  of  intelligent 
initiative.  Man  does  not  live  by  bread  alone;  every 
child  must  have  religious  growth,  every  child  must 
learn  to  pray  to  God  in  simplicity,  with  faith  and 
love."  "If  religion,"  he  says,  "does  not  permeate  the 
whole  of  education,  religion  will  have  little  influence 
on  life.  It  will  remain  isolated,  remote,  formal,  me- 
chanical." His  summary  of  the  essentials  of  modern 
education  is  contained  in  these  words:  "The  child  ac- 
customed from  the  earliest  years  to  think,  to  work  and 
to  pray  is  more  than  half  educated  already." 

The  protests  of  the  earnest  pioneers  of  modern  edu- 
cation were  against  the  narrowness  of  teachers  who 
were  making  the  religious  element,  as  they  were  making 
the  intellectual  aspect,  of  teaching  a  thing  of  words 
without  the  pulse  of  the  spirit.  There  was  not  until  a 
near  yesterday  any  protest  listened  to  against  the  utter 


Introduction.  vii 

absence  of  religion  from  schools.  In  America,  where 
popular  education  was  growing  in  influence  and  ex- 
tent beyond  any  degree  ever  attempted  in  any  other 
part  of  the  world,  religion  was,  in  the  early  days,  an 
accepted  part  and  aim  of  schooling.  For  our  first 
colonial  schools  the  Bible  was  the  only  book;  the 
teacher  had  taken  holy  orders.  The  very  grading  of 
the  children  into  the  beginners'  or  psalter  class,  the 
testament  class,  and  the  Bible  class,  shows  the  essen- 
tial religious  basis  of  the  service.  For  recruiting  the 
ministry,  for  converting  the  Indians,  for  the  promotion 
of  religion  and  morality,  under  a  sanction  profoundly 
religious,  every  old  American  college  was  founded. 
The  West  India  Company,  to  which  was  entrusted  the 
settlement  of  New  Amsterdam,  was  bound  by  the 
mother  nation  to  maintain  in  the  western  wilderness 
"good  and  fit  preachers  who  are  schoolmasters,  com- 
forters of  the  sick."  The  laws  of  Pennsylvania  re- 
quired all  children  to  be  instructed  "so  that  they  may 
be  able  to  read  the  Scriptures."  In  the  programs  of  ^ 
the  school  exercises,  in  the  regulations  for  the  govern- 
ance of  schoolmasters,  in  the  contracts  of  teachers,  in 
every  aspect  of  this  early  education,  the  religious  ele- 
ment appears. 

In  168S,  Johannes  Van  Eckkelen,  accepted  school- 
master and  church  chorister  of  Flatbush,  now  a  part 
of  New  York  City,  signs  articles  of  agreement  by  which 
he  engages  that  "when  the  school  begins,  one  of  the 
children  shall  read  the  morning  prayer.  The  school 
shall  close  with  prayer  before  dinner.  The  evening 
school  shall  begin  with  prayer   and  close  by   singing 


viii  Introduction, 

a  psalm.  The  schoolmaster  shall  instruct  the  children 
on  every  Wednesday  and  Saturday  in  the  common 
prayers  and  the  questions  and  answers  in  the  cate- 
chism, to  enable  them  to  repeat  them  the  better  on  Sun- 
day before  the  afternoon  service,  or  on  Monday  when 
they  shall  say  them  before  the  congregation."  A  hun- 
dred years  later,  in  1773,  the  Town  of  Flatbush  makes 
the  same  agreement  with  Anthony  Welp,  schoolmaster. 
The  English  colonists  knew  no  other  kind  of  edu- 
cation than  religious.  The  school  had  been  of,  by,  and 
for  the  church.  Hoole's  treatise  on  the  Art  of  Teach- 
ing (1637),  opens  with  the  declaration  that  the  "school 
is  the  place  where,  indeed,  the  first  principles  of  re- 
ligion and  learning  ought  to  be  taught."  The  sub- 
stitution of  English  authority  for  that  of  the  Dutch 
relinquished  no  conviction  as  to  the  religious  basis  of 
instruction.  Governor  Dongan,  a  Catliolic,  received 
in  1686,  directions  that  "noe  schoolmaster  bee  hence- 
forth permitted  to  keep  school"  without  approval  of 
the  church  at  home.  "You  shall  take  especial  care 
that  God  Almighty  be  devoutly  and  duly  served."  To 
Governor  Sloughter,  1689,  to  Governor  Fletcher,  1691, 
to  Governor  Bellemont,  1697,  to  Governor  Hunter, 
1709,  similar  injunctions  regarding  the  religious  duties 
of  the  school  are  given  by  the  King.^  When  the  Mayor, 
Alderman  and  Commonalty  petitioned  Governor  Corn- 
bury  for  a  new  free  school  in  the  City  of  New  York,  they 
specified  that  the  master  be  a  holy  man  of  good  learn- 

^  Cf .  A.  J.  Hall,  Religious  Education  in  the  Public  Schools  of 
the  State  and  City  of  New  York — A  Historical  Study;  A.  E. 
Palmer,  New  York  Public  Schools. 


Introduction.  ix 

ing,  mild  temper,  virtuous  conversation  and  pious  life. 
The  influence  of  free  school  societies  unconnected  with 
the  churches,  the  agitation  of  educational  promoters 
for  independent  public  schools,  brought  the  country 
into  bitter  controversy  over  the  disposition  of  school 
monies.  The  famous  contest  between  the  Bethel  Bap- 
tist Church  and  the  New  York  Free  School  Society, 
a  strife  culminating  in  18^5,  resulted  in  the  isolation 
of  the  churches  from  governmental  financial  aid  for 
education  conducted  under  ecclesiastical  auspices.  By 
1831  this  bitter  controversy  resulted  in  a  pronounce- 
ment upon  the  function  of  education  in  amazing  con- 
trast with  the  prevailing  tenets  of  the  community  a 
generation  before.  The  law  committee  of  the  New 
York  Board  of  Aldermen  reported  that  a  public  school 
"ought  to  teach  only  those  branches  of  education  which 
tended  to  prepare  a  child  for  the  ordinary  business  of 
life.  If  religion  be  taught  in  a  school,  it  strips  it  of 
one  of  the  characteristics  of  a  common  school,  as  all 
religious  studies  have  a  direct  reference  to  a  future 
state  and  are  not  necessary  to  prepare  a  child  for  the 
mechanical  or  any  other  business."  The  controversy 
being  carried  to  the  state  legislature,  the  committee 
on  schools  reported  that  religious  instruction  is  foreign 
to  the  intentions  of  the  school  system.  "Religion,"  it 
said,  "is  no  part  of  the  common  school  education." 
By  1858  the  swing  of  the  pendulum  reaches  a  point  in- 
dicated by  a  decision  of  the  State  Superintendent  of 
Schools  of  New  York,  Randall,  saying,  "The  position 
was  early,  distinctly  and  universally  taken  by  our 
statesmen,  legislators   and  prominent   friends   of  edu- 


X  Introduction, 

cation  that  religious  education  must  be  banished  from 
the  common  schools.'^  In  line  with  this  decision  all 
subsequent  state  superintendents  have  ruled.  Origin- 
ally religious  institutions,  the  American  schools  in  the 
course  of  a  century  have  become  completely  de-religion- 
ized. No  teacher  of  a  public  school  may  point  out  re- 
ligious responsibilities  to  his  pupils,  may  show  the  re- 
ligious bearing  of  events,  may  emphasize  the  exhorta- 
tions of  religious  masters,  without  violation  of  legal 
prohibition. 

This  survey,  illustrative  of  an  absolute  change  in 
the  attitude  of  the  people  of  New  York  regarding  pub- 
lic instruction,  is  an  example  of  a  uniform  trend 
throughout  the  colonies  and  the  early  states  of  the 
Union,  culminating  about  the  middle  of  the  last  cen- 
tury in  the  total  exclusion  of  religious  education  from 
the  public  schools.  The  states  thereafter  admitted,  en- 
acted laws  based  upon  the  result  of  such  ultimate  de- 
velopment. Indeed,  beyond  a  few  ancient  legal  pro- 
visions, obsolete  in  practice,  there  exists  no  vestige  of 
the  expressed  religious  spirit  pervading  the  colonies  at 
the  time  of  the  republic's  birth.  So  thoroughly  has 
the  excision  been  done,  that  even  to  Boston,  at  one  time 
the  centre  of  religious  fervor  and  conviction,  all  that 
remains  is  the  beautiful  old  motto  of  the  city, 

"Sicut  patribus,  sic  nobis  Deus."  (As  God  was  with  our 
fathers,  so  may  He  be  with  us.) 

But  the  present  century,  young  as  it  is,  has  been 
marked  by  a  notable  growth  of  conviction  of  the  griev- 
ous loss  the  education  of  youth  has  sustained.     It  is 


Introduction.  xi 

remarkable  that,  though  it  was  the  Free  School  So- 
cieties, public  education  officials,  common  school  men, 
and  educators,  who  pronounced  so  decidedly  against 
religious  instruction  as  an  essential  of  education,  it  is 
from  the  same  order  of  men  that  there  comes  the  ex- 
pression of  loss  and  the  desire  for  restoration. 

Before  the  century  is  three  years  old,  Robert  Herbert 
Quick,  than  whom  probably  no  educational  writer  is  bet- 
ter known,  raises  the  question,  '^Can  we  afford  to  neg- 
lect religious  instruction?"  His  answer  is  a  plea  for 
worship,  for  prayers,  for  study  of  the  Scriptures,  for 
the  singing  of  psalms  and  hymns,  that  boys  may  in- 
crease in  wisdom  and  reverence.  President  Butler,  of 
Columbia  University,  editor  of  an  educational  magazine 
which  purports  to  administer  authoritative  correction 
to  the  educational  world,  admonished  teachers  that  re- 
ligion is  one  of  the  inheritances  of  mankind  which  it  is 
the  function  of  teachers  to  make  real  to  the  child.  He 
calls  it  the  preponderant  influence  in  shaping  civiliza- 
tion, an  influence  due  in  part  to  the  universality  of  re- 
ligion itself  and  in  part  to  the  fact  that  it  was  beyond 
dispute  the  chief  human  interest  at  the  time  when  the 
foundations  of  our  present  superstructure  were  laid. 
It  is  hard  now  to  dignify,  he  says,  "with  the  names, 
influence  or  instruction,  the  wretchedly  formal  relig- 
ious exercises  which  are  gone  through  in  the  American 
Public  Schools.  The  result  is  that  religious  teaching 
in  schools  is  a  thing  of  the  past.  Two  solutions  are 
proposed.  That  the  state  shall  permit  all  existing 
forms  of  religious  instruction  in  its  own  schools,  or 
that  it  shall  aid  by  money  grants  schools  maintained 


xii  Introduction, 

by  religious  corporations.  Bitterness  of  controversy 
has  made  both  propositions  difficult.  Yet  the  religious 
element  may  not  be  permitted  to  pass  wholly  out  of 
education  unless  we  are  to  cripple  education  and  to 
render  it  hopelessly  incomplete.  For  the  religious  ele- 
ment of  human  nature  is  essential.  By  some  effective 
agency,  it  must  be  presented  to  every  child  whose  edu- 
cation aims  at  completeness  or  proportion." 

Theodore  Roosevelt,  in  an  address  ''On  Reading  the 
Bible,"  speaks  as  follows: 

"In  this  country  we  rightly  pride  ourselves  upon  our  system 
of  widespread  popular  education.  We  most  emphatically  do 
right  to  pride  ourselves  upon  it.  It  is  not  merely  of  inestimable 
advantage  to  us,  it  lies  at  the  root  of  our  power  of  self-govern- 
ment But  it  is  not  sufficient  in  itself.  We  must  cultivate  the 
mind;  but  it  is  not  enough  only  to  cultivate  the  mind.  With  edu- 
cation of  the  mind  must  go  the  spiritual  teaching  which  will  make 
us  turn  the  trained  intellect  to  good  account.  A  man  whose  in- 
tellect has  been  educated,  while  at  the  same  time  his  moral  edu- 
cation has  been  neglected,  is  only  the  more  dangerous  to  the  com- 
munity because  of  the  exceptional  additional  power  he  has  ac- 
quired. Surely  what  I  am  saying  needs  no  proof;  surely  the 
^mere  statement  of  it  is  enough,  that  education  must  be  education 
of  the  heart  and  conscience  no  less  than  of  the  mind." 

From  still  another  angle,  Muensterberg  sees  the  lack. 
In  1910,  in  his  ''Psychology  and  the  Teacher,"  he  finds 
not  only  that  there  is  a  pressing  need  for  school  in- 
spiration, but  also  that  religion  realizes  for  the  human 
soul  the  highest  desire  in  which  truth,  happiness,  mo- 
rality, progress  and  beauty  are  blended,  while  all  con- 
tradictions and  struggles  are  removed.  He  thinks  no 
teacher  can  afford  to  teach  without  implanting  in 
young  souls  a  religious  longing. 

In  1914  Paul  Monroe  declares  the  greatest  danger 


Introduction.  xiii 

in  the  secular  school  to  be  the  failure  to  learn  to  think 
of  the  world  religiously, — that  is,  profoundly  and  hu- 
manly. In  that  he  finds  "justification  of  the  para- 
mount place  given  to  religion  in  education  by  educators 
like  Arnold  of  Rugby  and  the  Roman  Catholics  in  all 
periods." 

In  the  same  year,  Joseph  Swain,  President  of  the 
National  Education  Association,  addressing  the  Con- 
vention of  the  Nation's  Public  School  Teachers,  argues 
that  if  we  are  to  have  the  proper  type  of  citizens  we 
must  have  teachers  of  the  highest  training.  If  we  are 
to  have  exalted  character,  we  must  have  teachers  of 
faith  and  religion.  "It  is  the  chief  business  of  men 
and  women  in  the  school  to  perform  religious  acts  and 
to  lead  others  to  perform  them." 

In  the  speeches  preserved  in  the  records  of  the  pro- 
ceedings of  teachers'  associations  and  conventions,  we 
also  find  this  decided  tendency  to  deplore  the  loss  of 
religion  and  to  plan  for  its  return.  The  stone  which 
the  builders  rejected  may  yet  be  the  head  of  the  cor- 
ner. 

Whatever  may  be  the  merits  of  any  discussion  con- 
cerning practical  religious  teaching,  there  are  few  to- 
day who  will  not  question  the  completeness  of  a  system 
of  education  that  has  no  religious  element.  Every 
person,  though  he  may  be  unaware  of  the  fact,  pos- 
sesses a  religious  feeling  and  follows  some  sort  of  re- 
ligion. To  many  it  may  seem  a  curious  religion,  but, 
whatever  it  may  seem  to  be,  it  is  yet  an  attempt  to  ex- 
press the  religious  spirit.  It  is,  therefore,  one  of  the 
curiosities  of  an  education  which  aims  to  train  the  whole 


xiv  Introduction, 

child,  which  at  every  stage  emphasizes  the  necessity  of 
complete  development,  that  it  should  deliberately  ex- 
clude any  provision  for  this  great,  fundamental  char- 
acteristic. Scientists  recognize  that  the  religious  in- 
stinct is  as  real  and  as  "natural"  as  the  desire  for  food 
or  for  survival.  Man  is  religious  by  nature.  Even  the 
savage  expresses  himself  most  finelj^  in  his  religious 
impulses  when  he  attributes  a  spiritual  agency  to  the 
trees,  to  the  winds,  and  to  the  weapons  he  uses.  Hav- 
ing no  organized  conception  of  deity,  he  creates  for 
the  satisfaction  of  his  own  inner  being,  one  god  or 
many. 

When  man  comes  into  the  larger  possession  of  those 
beliefs  and  conditions  we  say  he  has  become  civilized. 
It  seems  strange  indeed  that  we  should  leave  to  chance 
the  development  of  one  of  the  qualities  through  which 
our  civilization  has  become  possible. 

It  must  be  recognized  that  no  system  of  public  edu- 
cation can  teach  a  religion.  The  same  liberty  of  con- 
science that  secures  for  each  citizen  the  practice  of 
his  own  belief,  forbids  that  those  who  follow  a  different 
religion  should  have  the  privilege  of  interpreting  a 
creed  or  of  giving  religious  instruction  to  his  own 
children.  Nor  will  any  American  permit  public  schools 
to  establish  through  their  own  agents  a  system  of 
sectarian  instruction.  Yet,  equally,  is  it  the  truth 
that  no  child  is  well  taught  who  in  some  wise  is  not  re- 
ligiously taught.  This  is  the  great  truth  which  after 
a  few  decades  is  emerging  from  the  confusion  of  ideas. 
This  plea  for  adequate  religious  training  is  no  longer 
a  preachment  of  the  pulpit   alone.      Tf^^cl^^rs   of   all 


Introduction,  xv 

creeds  recognize  the  necessity.  The  lack  of  this  train- 
ing has  produced  its  own  evil  results. 

It  is  true  now,  and  always  will  be  true,  that  a  com- 
munity without  religious  life  will  itself  evolve  various 
individual  creeds  to  express  some  form  of  emotional 
life  and  desire.  These  creeds  will  not  always  preach 
worship  of  God,  service  to  the  state,  or  sacrifice  of 
the  individual  to  society,  but  they  will  preach,  notwith- 
standing. It  may  be  a  preachment  of  individualism  in 
terms  of  our  brief  material  existence;  of  the  glorifi- 
cation of  the  lower  appetites  and  the  baser  instincts. 
There  are  people  who  call  this  sort  of  thinking  intel- 
lectual freedom.  If  it  may  be  called  a  religion,  it  is  a 
religion  of  selfishness. 

The  reconciliation  of  religious  education  in  terms  of 
precise  beliefs  with  the  development  of  religious  emotion 
must  prove  a  very  difficult  thing  to  realize  in  any  sys- 
tem of  public  education.  There  is  no  question  but  that 
some  type  of  reconciliation  or  adjustment  should  be 
made.  Whether  the  ultimate  solution  will  be  a  method 
of  organization  that  will  permit  the  absence  from 
school  of  children  for  religious  instruction  at  stated 
intervals;  whether  it  will  involve  separate  hours  and 
separate  teachers  and  places  set  apart;  or  whether  it 
will  be  something  entirely  different  from  this,  will  be 
determined  by  the  intelligence  and  reciprocal  toler- 
ance of  those  who  dedicate  themselves  to  the  solution 
of  the  problem.     The  method  is  a  secondary  thing. 

The  important  thing  is  that  all  of  us  are  beginning 
to  realize — whatever  our  particular  creeds  or  faiths — 
that  whether  in  the  school,  in  the  church,  or  in  the 


xvi  Introduction. 

home,  whether  through  teachers  or  parents,  some  form 
of  religious  training  in  education  is  essential  to  any 
enduring  civilization  and  most  of  all  to  a  civilization 
based  on  ideals  of  democracy.  The  wonderful  concep- 
tion that  religion  gives  us — that  men  are  brothers,  that 
God  is  the  father  of  us  all — a  conception  of  reciprocal 
duty  and  common  responsibility,  must  become  a  con- 
scious motive  in  living  if  we  are  to  succeed  and  pro- 
gress. It  was  true  in  ancient  times ;  it  was  true  in  me- 
dieval times ;  it  is  true  in  modern  times.  It  will  always 
be  true — because  the  need  of  religious  motive  is  as  con- 
stant and  permanent  as  is  civilization  itself.  Civili- 
zation touches  its  highest  level  as  it  most  fully  ex- 
presses the  religious  conception;  religion  finds  its  finest 
expression  in  the  existence  of  the  highest  civilization. 

The  author  of  the  following  pages  has  a  sublime 
philosophy  of  life — service  and  sacrifice  and  self-efface- 
ment. He  has  grasped  the  large  view  that  the  end  of 
education  is  the  actualization  of  the  capacities  of  the 
human  soul;  that  teaching  is  no  mere  conformity  to 
system,  no  mere  covering  of  courses  of  study.  He  ac- 
cepts no  smaller  duty  than  that  of  perfecting  man- 
hood. To  him  each  child  is  a  complexity  of  possibili- 
ties, an  organization  of  developing  faculties  of  which 
reason  and  conscience  are  the  controlling  force  and  the 
crowning  glory. 

He  would  teach  not  only  by  methods,  but  with  the 
sense  of  a  sacred  mission.  The  solemn  fact  is  never 
absent  that  the  regeneration  of  spiritual  and  national 
life  depends  in  a  superlative  degree  upon  the  ideals 
fostered  in  the  classroom. 


Introduction,  xvii 

From  him  might  have  come,  as  an  expression  of  what 
he  thinks  and  believes,  the  noble  words  of  Emerson, 
"For  the  spirit  only  can  teach.  Not  any  profane  man, 
nor  any  sensual,  not  any  slave,  not  any  liar  can  teach, 
but  only  he  can  give  who  has.  The  one  through  whom 
the  soul  speaks,  alone  can  teach.  Courage,  piety,  love, 
wisdom,  can  teach.  But  he  who  aims  to  speak  as  books 
enable,  as  systems  use,  as  the  fashions  guide,  and  as 
interest  commands,  merely  babbles.    Let  him  hush." 

"The  undevout  astronomer  is  mad."  Faith  is  indis- 
pensable to  all  true  teaching.  Without  faith,  educa- 
tion is  dross.  Without  faith,  the  poetry  of  life  is 
transformed  into  satire.  With  faith,  teaching  is  the 
continuous  baptism  of  the  world. 

In  this  book.  Brother  Chrysostom  demonstrates  that 
the  character,  spirit  and  faith  of  the  teacher  should 
be  deemed  the  vital  force  in  education  and  that  all 
other  considerations  are  subordinate.  Through  the 
progression  of  logical  steps  he  unfolds  the  comprehen- 
sive means  by  which  schools  may  realize  their  spiritual 
function  and  teachers  their  exalted  mission. 

It  is  the  work  of  a  teacher  of  long  experience  who 
has  tested  the  theories  of  philosophy  and  pedagogy  in 
the  living  laboratory  of  the  classroom  and  whose  mind, 
accustomed  to  a  daily  business  of  making  matters  clear, 
finds  expression  in  a  medium  of  language  marked  with 
lucidity,  precision  and  charm. 

Thomas  W.  Churchill. 
New  York  City, 

October  H,  1916. 


AUTHOR'S  PREFACE. 

This  book  is  dedicated  to  religious  teachers.  It 
treats  of  a  subject  which,  by  deliberate  choice,  they 
have  made  their  life-work.  But  it  makes  a  direct  ap- 
peal also  to  all  teachers  who,  respecting  the  dignity 
of  their  profession,  live  and  labor  for  the  propaga- 
tion, the  consecration,  and  the  development  of  the 
highest  ethical  ideals.  Even  for  such  as  do  not  make 
profession  of  the  Christian  religion,  but  who  sincerely 
love  their  fellow-man,  this  book  should  possess  some 
interest,  since  it  emphasizes  certain  methods  of  educa- 
tion which  have  been  put  to  the  test  and  which,  on 
trial,  have  been  found  not  utterly  wanting.  There  is, 
then,  presumptive  evidence  that  the  principles  here  set 
forth  are  possessed  of  an  inherent  fitness  to  produce 
and  to  develop  in  the  teacher  qualities  which  are  to-day 
universally  admitted  to  be  among  the  most  highly 
prized  of  the  fruits  of  education.  It  is  on  this  ground 
that  the  book  puts  forth  a  claim  for  an  attentive  read- 
ing and  a  careful  consideration  of  the  facts  involved. 

With  a  view  to  extending  the  utility  of  the  following 
chapters  to  a  wider  circle  of  readers  and  through  them 
to  larger  groups  of  pupils,  the  general  plan  has  been 
adopted  of  rather  citing  the  exact  words  of  the  authors 
referred  to,  than  of  presenting  merely  the  substance  of 
their  thought.  Such  a  method  has  also  the  advantage 
of  affording  occasions  to  the  reader  for  deeper  reflec- 


XX  Preface. 

tion  on  the  really  vital  issues  in  education  without 
unduly  taxing  his  time  and  his  opportunities.  Should 
he  desire  to  pursue  further  the  line  of  thought  followed 
by  the  author  cited,  he  will  iSnd  the  necessary  reference 
indicated  in  the  proper  place. 

To  keep  the  book  within  due  limits,  it  became  neces- 
sary to  give  a  very  summary  treatment  of  the  Socio- 
logical Section.  By  way  of  compensation,  the  reader's 
attention  is  repeatedly  called,  in  the  successive  chapters 
to  social  values  and  social  points  of  view.  In  conse- 
quence, he  will  find  that  the  social  aim  of  education, 
in  the  best  meaning  of  that  phrase,  is  emphasized 
throughout.^ 

In  the  preparation  of  these  pages  the  author  has  in- 
curred many  debts :  first  of  all,  to  the  members  of  his 
own  Order,  the  Brothers  of  the  Christian  Schools ;  then, 
in  a  special  manner,  to  Dr.  Thomas  Edward  Shields, 
dean  of  the  department  of  pedagogy  at  the  Catholic 
University  of  America,  who  proposed  the  subject  for 
investigation,  examined  the  general  plan  of  treatment, 
and  directed  the  preparation  of  Book  I.  This  section 
was  submitted  to  the  University,  in  partial  fulfillment 
of  the  requirements  for  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Philos- 
ophy, under  the  title,  ''The  Pedagogical  Value  of  the 
Virtue  of  Faith  as  Developed  in  the  Religious  Noviti- 
ate." Valuable  suggestions  were  received  from  Rev. 
Drs.  Edward  A.  Pace,  Edmund  T.  Shanahan,  William 
J.  Kerby,  George  M.  Sauvage,  C.  S.  C,  Thomas  Vernon 
Moore,  C.  S.  P.,  and  from  Rev.  Leo  L.  McVay,  of  the 


^See  "Social,"   "Social   Value,"   and   "Sociological   Aspects"   in 
the  Index  of  Subjects. 


Preface.  xxi 

University;  also  from  Rev.  Drs.  John  J.  Mitty  and 
Joseph  C.  Herrick,  of  St.  Joseph's  Seminary,  Dun- 
woodie.  Special  thanks  are  due  to  Rev.  Francis  P. 
Siegfried,  of  St.  Charles'  Seminary,  Overbrook,  for 
careful  reading  of  the  manuscript  and  for  giving  gen- 
erously of  his  time  and  experience. 

The  book  does  not  advocate  the  substitution  of  the 
novitiate  for  the  normal  school.  It  does  maintain  that 
teachers'  ideals  can  not  be  adequately  developed  and 
cherished  without  some  method  similar  to  that  used  in 
the  novitiate.  For  the  religious  teacher,  the  period  of 
the  novitiate  in  general  precedes  that  of  the  normal 
school  training  and  lays  a  broad  and  secure  foundation 
for  the  latter. 

If  the  perusal  of  these  pages  should  awaken  in 
religious  teachers,  and  more  particularly  in  novices,  a 
deeper  appreciation  of  the  resources  which  they  pos- 
sess, the  author's  labor  will  not  have  been  in  vain. 

Ammendale,  Md., 

July  16,  1916. 


CONTENTS. 

Introduction     v 

Author's   PRErACE xix 


BOOK  I. 

The  Noemal  School  and  the  Religious  Novitiate. 

CHAPTER  I. 
The  Normal  School. 

Article       I. — ^The  Normal  School  in  General 3 

Article      II.— The  Aim  of  the  Normal  School 6 

Article    III. — The  Curriculum  of  the  Normal  School 11 

Article    IV. — Method  in  the  Normal  School 16 

Article      V.—The  Spirit  of  the  Normal  School 18 

Article    VI. — Limitations  of  the  Normal  School 21 

Article  VII. — Summary    28 

CHAPTER  II 
The  Religious  Novitiate. 

Article        I. — ^The  Religious  Life  in  General 30 

Article      II.— The  Nature  and  Aim  of  the  Novitiate 36 

Article    III. — ^The  Curriculum  of  the  Novitiate 43 

Article    IV.— Method  in  the  Novitiate 50 

Article      V.—The  Spirit  of  the  Novitiate 69 

Article    VI. — Limitations  of  the  Novitiate 66 

Article  VII.— Summary    75 

CHAPTER  III. 

The  Personality  op  the  Teacher. 

Aj-ticle       I.-T^What  is  Personality? 76 


xxiW 


xxiv  Contents. 

Article     II.— What  Society  Expects 79 

Article    III.— What  the  Catholic  Church  Demands 82 

Article    IV.— What  the  Novitiate  Offers 87 

Article      V. — The  Teacher's  Ideals  of  Personality 92 

General  Summary. — The   Necessity   of    Faith 100 


BOOK  II. 

Faith. 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Faith  and  Its  Exercise. 

Article       I.— The  Nature  and  Kinds  of  Faith 105 

Article     II.— The  Exercise  of  Faith 119 

CHAPTER  V. 
The  Pedagogical  Implications  of  Faith. 

Article  I. — ^The  Pedagogical  Value  of  Faith  Viewed  Ob- 
jectively         133 

Article  II. — The  Pedagogical  Value  of  Faith  Viewed  Sub- 
jectively         137 

Article    III. — Summary    146 

BOOK  III. 

Pedagogical  Value  of  Faith. 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Biological  Aspects  of  Faith. 

Article       I. — Fundamental  Concepts    149 

Article      II.— Heredity   158 

Article    III. — Environment    168 

Article    IV. — Plasticity  and  Adjustment 187 

Article      V.^rrSummary 200 


Contents. 


XXV 


CHAPTER  VII. 
Psychological  Aspects  of  Faith. 

Article        I. — General   Survey    204 

Article      II. — The  Physiological  Basis  of  Learning 221 

Article    III.— Reflex  Action  as  a  Type 230 

Article    IV.— Habit   248 

Article      V. — Summary 275 

BOOK  IV. 

Meditation. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
The  Psychology  of  Meditation. 

Article        I. — The  Nature  and  Matter  of  Meditation 281 

Article      II. — Constituent   Elements   of   Meditation 291 

Article    III.— The  Pedagogical  Value  of  Meditation 300 

Article    IV. — Summary    309 

BOOK  V. 

SocioLOGicAi.  Aspects  of  Faith. 


Article 
Article 


CHAPTER  IX. 
Faith  as  a  Social  Force. 

I. — Faith  as  a  Social  Force  in  the  Novitiate 315 

II.— Faith  as  a  Social  Force  in  the  School 327 


CHAPTER  X. 
General  Summary. 

General   Summary    340 

L^Envoi    343 

Bibliography   346 

Index  of  Names 365 

Index  of  Subjects , 869 


BOOK  I. 
THE  NORMAL  SCHOOL  AND  THE  NOVITIATE. 


CHAPTER  I. 


The  Normal  School. 


Article  L — The  Normal  School  m  General, 

It  is  the  function  of  the  normal  school  to  train 
teachers  for  service  in  the  public  schools.  In  order  to 
form  an  estimate  of  the  Pedagogical  Value  of  the  Virtue 
of  Faith  as  developed  in  the  Religious  Novitiate,  we 
will  take  the  normal  school  as  a  term  of  comparison. 

For  the  year  ending  June,  1913,  284  normal  schools 
in  the  United  States,  if  we  include  in  that  number  both 
public  and  private  schools,  reported  to  the  Bureau  of 
Education  in  W^ashington.^  In  the  regular  training 
courses  for  teachers  these  schools  had  a  total  enrollment 
of  94,455  students.  If  to  this  number  we  add  21,425 
students  pursuing  like  courses  in  931  high  schools,  and 
5,626  students  similarly  engaged  in  265  private  high 
schools  and  academies,  we  have  a  grand  total  of  121,- 
506  students  preparing  to  fix  the  ideals  and  form  the 
conduct  of  the  nation  as  far  as  the  public  schools  are 
concerned.  It  is  true  that  many  of  our  colleges  and 
universities  have  departments  of  education.  It  is  also 
true  that,  while  they  are  particularly  well  equipped  to 
train  teachers   for  high  school  work,  yet  they  often 


^See  Bulletin,  1914,  No.  16,  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Education,  The 
Tangible  Rewards  of  Teaching,  compiled  by  James  C.  Boykin  and 
Roberta  King,  pp.  416  ff. 

8 


4  '      The  Normal  School, 

extend  their  courses  both  above  and  below  this  domain. 
They  train  some  students  for  college  teaching,  and 
others  for  teaching  in  the  grade  schools.  However, 
even  when  they  give  courses  for  the  teaching  of  subjects 
in  the  grammar  schools,  these  courses  are  patronized 
largely  by  men  and  women  who  are  already  actively 
engaged  in  the  work  of  teaching.  As  a  result  it  fre- 
quently happens  that  such  courses  in  pedagogy  given 
in  universities  as  are  suited  to  grade-school  teachers 
are  either  extension  courses  conducted  in  the  late 
afternoon  or  the  evening  or  on  Saturdays,  or  summer 
courses  when  the  general  facilities  and  resources  of  the 
universities  are  opened  to  the  ambitious  teacher.  We 
are,  then,  justified  in  taking  the  normal  school  as  a 
term  of  comparison.^ 

From  another  viewpoint  it  likewise  appears  that  the 
normal  school  is  a  proper  term  of  comparison.  We 
quote  from  Professor  Thorndike's  Elimination  of  Pupils 
from  School,^ 

"I  estimate  that  the  general  tendency  of  American  cities  of 
25,000  and  over  is,  or  was  at  about  1900,  to  keep  in  school  out 
of  100  entering  pupils  90  till  grade  4,  81  till  grade  5,  68  till  grade 
6,  64  till  grade  7,  40  till  the  last  grammar  grade  (usually  the 
eighth,  but  sometimes  the  ninth,  and  rarely  the  seventh),  27  till 
the  first  high  school  grade,  17  till  the  second,  12  till  the  third,  and 
8  till  the  fourth.  ...  It  will  be  remembered  that  figures  for 
the  public  schools  in  the  country  as  a  whole  are  probably  much 
lower  than  this." 


^  On  the  new  Normal  School  movement,  see  Educational  Review, 
Vol.  XLV,  pp.  195,  198,  304,  409,  609. 

^Thorndike,  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Education,  Bulletin  No.  4j  1907, 
Whole  No.  379,  p.  11. — Add  this  passage  from  Moral  Training  in 
the  Public  Schools  (The  California  Prize  Essays):  "Now  at  least 


The  Normal  School  in  General,  ^ 

From  this  it  follows  that  the  destinies  of  the  nation 
are  largely  shaped  by  the  normal  school  graduates.  Is 
there  justification  for  placing  so  much  responsibility  in 
their  hands?  For  the  present  let  us  content  ourselves 
with  applying  the  principle  of  selection  to  the  case. 

"All  environmental  agencies,  and  especially  our  educational 
agencies,  are  a  great  system  of  means,  not  only  of  making  men 
good  and  intelligent  and  efficient,  but  also  of  picking  out  those 
who  for  any  reason  are  good  and  intelligent  and  efficient.  In  the 
latter  sense  they  may  be  said  to  improve  not  the  production,  but 
the  distribution  of  mental  and  moral  wealth.  They  help  to  put 
the  right  men  in  the  right  places.  ...  To  have  gone  to  school 
at  all  means  not  only  that  you  have  perhaps  learned  to  read  and 
write,  but  also  that  you  were  not  an  invalid,  idiot,  or  runaway. 
To  have  progressed  halfway  through  the  grade  schools  means  not 
only  that  you  have  learned  somewhat,  but  also  that  you  were  not 
one  of  the  ten  or  twenty  per  cent,  who,  by  lack  of  means  or 
ambition  or  health  or  mental  ability,  have  been  eliminated  from 
the  school  system.  To  have  graduated  from  a  high  school  means 
that  you  are  one  of  a  very  small  percentage  of  the  group  who 
entered  school  with  you,  a  percentage  picked  for  survival  not  by 
chance,  surely.  And  so  on  with  the  college  and  professional 
schools."  ^ 


nine-tenths  of  our  children  leave  school  at  the  dawn  of  ado- 
lescence, the  most  critical  period  of  their  lives,  when  moral  guid- 
ance is  more  necessary  to  them  than  at  any  other  time  between 
birth  and  death;  when  the  methods  of  childhood  are  becoming  ob- 
solete; when  responsibility  begins,  but  judgment  is  immature; 
when  moral  storms  tear  up  the  moral  growths  of  childhood  and 
dreams  float  in  the  air;  when  children  seem  strange  to  them- 
selves; when  they  are  morally  more  lonely  than  ever  before  or 
afterwards;  when  they  must  not  only  face  the  great  tempta- 
tions of  life,  but  make  its  great  decisions  without  experience; 
when  they  least  desire  others  to  penetrate  their  thoughts  or  mold 
their  judgments.  The  greatest  need  of  this  period  is  a  moral 
one.  What  provision  do  the  schools  make  for  it?"  "Fourth 
Essay,"  pp.  135,  136,  by  Frank  Cramer. 
*  Thorndike,  Educational  Psychology ,  pp.  94  f. 


6  The  NoTTnal  School 

This  passage  shows  that  the  student  who  enters  the 
normal  school  may  have  at  least  the  negative  require- 
ments of  a  teacher.  It  remains  then  for  the  normal 
school  to  develop  the  positive  qualities.  This  task 
becomes  more  difficult  as  the  years  go  on.  There  are 
many  forces  at  work  tending  to  the  disintegration  of 
family  ties,  to  the  transfer  of  home  activities  from  the 
fireside  to  the  factory,  and  to  the  transfer  of  home 
sympathies  from  the  children  to  social  acquaintances, 
to  business  friends,  and  to  club  policies.  All  these 
factors  react  in  turn  upon  the  plastic  minds  of  the 
young.  Hence  it  is  that  many  of  our  school  problems 
of  to-day  were  undreamed  of  fifty  years  ago.  In  this 
crisis  what  agency  shall  save  our  public  schools  ?  What, 
indeed,  if  not  our  normal  schools?  To  them  therefore 
does  the  nation  look  for  the  imparting  to  the  young 
of  loyalty  to  high  ideals  and  unswerving  devotion  to 
duty.  Can  the  normal  schools  discharge  this  high 
office?  To  answer  this  question  it  is  necessary  to  con- 
sider the  aim  of  the  normal  school. 

Article  11. — The  Aim  of  the  Normal  School. 

The  fifth  resolution  at  the  Cleveland  Meeting  of  the 
National  Education  Association  in  1908  (Normal 
School  Department)   reads: 

^^Resolved,  That  while  the  normal  school  is  not  the  only  agent 
for  the  training  of  teachers,  it  is  the  State's  chief  agent,  and  as 
such  it  should  set  up  the  standards  of  teaching,  determine  the 
ideals,  and  train  the  men  and  women  whose  call  is  to  educationsil 
leadership."  ^ 


^Proceedings  of  National  Education  Association,  1909,  p.  651. 


The  Aim  of  the  Normal  School.  7 

The  normal  school  aims,  therefore,  to  give  the  teacher 
his  professional  preparation.  This  view  is  confirmed 
by  Professor  Gordy  in  The  Rise  and  Growth  of  the 
Normal  School  Idea:^ 

"I  hold,  with  the  Massachusetts  Board  of  Education,  that  the 
design  of  the  normal  school  is  strictly  professional;  that  is,  to 
prepare  in  the  best  possible  manner  the  pupils  for  the  work  of 
organizing,  governing,  and  teaching  the  public  schools,  and  that 
this  professional  preparation  includes  the  most  thorough  knowl- 
edge, first,  of  the  branches  of  learning  required  to  be  taught  in 
the  schools;  second,  of  the  best  methods  of  teaching  these 
branches;  third,  of  right  mental  training;  and  I  hold  that  in  our 
system  of  schools  the  normal  school  is  not  only  the  proper  agency 
for  undertaking  the  whole  of  the  professional  training  of  intend- 
ing teachers  of  a  certain  grade,  but  that  it  is  the  only  institution 
which  really  professes  to  supply  any  of  his  professional  needs. 
The  theory  that  normal  schools  ha^  no  business  to  give  instruc- 
tion in  the  subjects  their  pupils  are  preparing  to  teach,  I  regard 
as  a  survival  of  the  fallacy  of  the  monitorial  system  (of  Bell  and 
Lancaster),  which  held  that  the  bare  knowledge  of  a  fact  qualifies 
its  possessor  to  teach  it."' 

In  the  realization  of  its  aim  of  training  for  profes- 
sional service,  the  normal  school  must  depend  chiefly 
upon  its  faculty;  for  "the  faculty  is  the  soul  of  the 
institution."  ^  There  are  four  qualifications  which  every 
member    should    possess:    character,    teaching-ability, 


*  Published  as  Bulletin  No.  8,  1891,  Bureau  of  Education. 

*  P.  130.  It  is  well  to  bear  in  mind  that  this  study  was  pub- 
lished in  1891.  In  more  recent  years  not  a  few  universities  have 
divided  the  field  with  the  normal  schools,  among  them  New  York 
University  where  Professor  J.  P.  Gordy  taught  for  several  years 
before  his  death. 

'See  "Function  of  Normal  School,"  Report  of  Special  Com- 
mittee on  Normal  Schools,  Proceedings  of  National  Education 
Association,  1899,  p.  838. 


8  The  Normal  School. 

scholarship,  and  culture;^  and  of  these  character 
stands  first.  "Nothing  can  take  its  place."  A  like 
judgment  is  pronounced  by  James  E.  Russell,  Dean  of 
Teachers'  College,  Columbia  University,  as  a  result  of 
many  years  of  practical  experience  in  preparing  teach- 
ers for  the  proper  discharge  of  their  office. 

"The  first  qualification  for  professional  service,  therefore,  is 
good  character,  the  conscious  striving  for  high  ideals.  The  pro- 
fessional worker  looks  to  the  future  and  is  pledged  by  his  vocation 
to  make  the  future  better  than  the  present.  Such  an  aim  implies 
in  these  days  the  possession  of  two  other  qualifications,  each 
potent  and  indispensable.  One  of  these  is  specialized  knowledge, 
and  the  other  is  skill.  These  three — an  ethical  aim,  specialized 
knowledge,  and  technical  skill — are  the  trinity  upon  which  pro- 
fessional service  rests.  The  stone-cutter  may  have  superior  skill, 
but  with  only  a  modicum  of  specialized  knowledge  and  lacking 
an  ethical  aim,  he  remains  the  artisan;  the  physician  who  is 
ignorant  of  his  subject,  however  high  his  aim  or  however  skillful 
in  practice,  is  still  a  quack;  if  he  is  learned  in  high  degree  but 
lacks  professional  skill,  he  is  a  confirmed  bungler;  the  lawyer 
who  is  versed  in  the  subtleties  of  the  law  and  adroit  in  legal 
procedure,  but  who  disregards  the  ethics  of  his  profession,  is  a 
charlatan  despised  of  men. 

"The  teacher  may  be  a  professional  worker.  But  he  who  puts 
himself  in  the  professional  class  must  know  accurately  what  he 
is  to  do,  have  the  requisite  skill  for  doing  it,  and  do  his  work 
under  the  guidance  of  high  ethical  principles.  The  teacher  who 
is  ignorant  of  his  subject  is  a  quack;  the  teacher  who  lacks  pro- 
fessional skill  is  a  bungler;  the  teacher  who  is  not  inspired  by 
high  ideals  is  a  charlatan." ' 

What,  then,  is  this  ethical  aim  which  every  teacher 
should  possess  and  which  therefore  should  pre-eminently 


'  Ibid. 

^  "Professional  Factors  in  the  Training  of  the  High  School 
Teacher,"  Educational  Review,  Vol.  XLV  (March,  1913),  pp.  218, 
219. 


The  Aim  of  the  Normal  School.  9 

direct  the  actions  of  every  member  of  the  normal  school 
faculty?  According  to  Dean  Russell,  it  is  "intelligent 
self-direction."  ^  In  this  art  the  normal  school  pro- 
fessor is  presumed  to  be  expert  when  he  is  placed  over 
normal  students ;  for  must  he  not  train  them  to  follow 
high  ideals?  In  this  difficult  yet  inspiring  work  he 
must  so  impart  moral  principles  that  they  will  become 
dynamic  factors  not  only  in  shaping  the  conduct  of 
each  and  every  one  of  the  normal  students  with  whom 
he  comes  into  personal  relations,  but  likewise  and  es- 
pecially in  molding  through  them  the  lives  of  all  their 
future  pupils.  In  his  endeavor  to  reach  this  result, 
what  resources  can  the  professor  command? 

Fundamentally  these  are  the  same  as  the  resources 
available  for  the  teacher  of  the  grade  school  or  the 
high  school. 

"What  we  need  in  education  is  a  genuine  faith  in  the  existence 
of  moral  principles  which  are  capable  of  effective  application. 
.  .  .  The  teacher  who  operates  in  this  faith  will  find  every 
subject,  every  method  of  instruction,  every  incident  of  school  life 
pregnant  with  moral  possibility."^ 

From  this  it  follows  that  moral  principles  should 
dominate  every  moment  of  school  life.  This  they  can- 
not do  unless  they  be  knit  into  every  fiber  of  the  teach- 
er's conscious  life.  It  is  only  through  the  teacher's 
personality  that  they  can  (1)  pervade  the  curriculum, 
(2)  shape  the  methods,  (3)  determine  and  enrich  the 
spirit  of  the  school,  as  Professor  Dewey  so  earnestly 


'  Op.  cit.,  p.  229. 

*  Prof.  Dewey,  Moral  Principles  in  Education,  pp.  67,  68. 


10  The  Normal  School 

recommends.  It  is  by  seeing  moral  principles  exem- 
plified in  the  daily  conduct  of  his  teacher  that  the 
pupil's  "faith"  in  these  principles  is  to  be  fostered  and 
developed.  This  was  fully  appreciated  by  the  Inter- 
national Committee  on  Moral  Training,  when  its  Ex- 
ecutive Chairman,  Clifford  W.  Barnes,  presented  this 
statement  to  the  National  Education  Association,  in 
1911: 

"The  teacher,  through  his  personality,  should  bring  religion  to 
the  aid  of  morality.  Considering  my  words  very  carefully,  I  have 
no  hesitation  in  affirming  that  an  irreligious  person  has  no  right 
to  teach  in  a  public  school.  ...  I  mean  by  ^irreligious'  a 
person  who  fails  to  perceive  any  relation  between  the  finite  and 
the  infinite,  who  recognizes  no  supreme  good  in  the  universe,  who 
has  no  consciousness  *of  a  power  not  himself  that  makes  for 
righteousness.'  Such  men  are  often  caught  by  the  tide  of  whole- 
some life  which  surrounds  them  on  every  side,  and  are  carried 
on  to  the  achievement  of  a  noble  career.  But  as  teachers  of  the 
young  they  lack  in  the  spirit  of  reverence,  in  the  discernment  of 
true  values,  in  the  power  to  quicken  high  ideals,  and  in  that  love 
for  self-sacrifice  which  the  Great  Teacher  taught  his  disciples."  * 

Furthermore,  "the  most  dangerous  man  to-day, 
socially,  is  the  religionless  man,  because  he  is  the  rud- 
derless man,  a  derelict  upon  life's  sea."  ^  Religion 
"shifts  the  individual's  attention  from  self  to  society, 
and  in  so  doing  makes  him  a  better  citizen."  ^     The 


^Proceedings  of  National  Education  Association,  1911,  pp.  399, 
400. 

'Wm.  W.  Elwang,  University  of  Missouri  Studies,  Social  Sci- 
ence Series,  Vol.  II,  "The  Social  Function  of  Religious  Belief," 
p.  96. 

•  Ibid,  p.  93. 


The  Curriculum  of  the  Normal  School.         11 

State  relies  on  the  school  to  train  the  young  for  loyal 
and  upright  service  in  society/  The  common  school  in 
turn  appeals  to  the  normal  school  for  deeply  religious 
teachers  of  forceful  personality.  By  what  means  can 
the  normal  school  supply  this  demand  other  than 
through  the  personality  of  its  teaching  staff?  We 
have  quoted  above  the  words  of  Professor  John  Dewey. 
In  his  judgment  there  are  three  sources  of  moral  train- 
ing: (1)  the  curriculum,  (^)  methods  of  teaching, 
(3)  the  atmosphere  of  the  school,  its  social  spirit. 
Let  us  consider  the  curriculum. 

Article  III, — The  Curriculum  of  the  Normal  School. 

Historically,  the  first  classes  for  the  training  of 
teachers  in  the  United  States  made  no  attempt  to  give 
any  professional  preparation,  in  the  proper  meaning 
of  that  term.^  They  were  concerned  simply  with  im- 
parting to  the  candidates  a  knowledge  of  the  subjects 
which  they  would  have  to  teach.^     So  meager  a  program 


'  Cf .  Dewey :  "The  moral  responsibility  of  the  school,  and  of 
those  who  conduct  it,  is  to  society."  Moral  Principles  in  Educor- 
tion,  p.  7.  See  also  his  "Course  of  Study,  Theory  of,"  and  C.  A. 
Perry's  "School  as  a  Social  Center,"  in  Monroe's  Cyclopedia  of 
Education. 

'Concerning  the  first  normal  schools  in  Europe,  see  Gordy, 
op.  cit.  pp.  17,  18.  Monroe's  Cyclopedia  of  Education,  in  the 
articles,  "Training  of  Teachers"  and  "Normal  School,"  makes  no 
mention  of  the  work  of  St.  John  Baptist  de  la  Salle  in  establish- 
ing normal  schools  in  1681  and  1684. 

•  See  Gordy,  op.  cit.  Chaps.  I,  II. 


1^  The  Normal  School, 

was  soon  found  to  be  inadequate;  and  to  it  were  added 
mental  philosophy,  psychology,  and  moral  philosophy.^ 
In  1899  the  Committee  on  Normal  Schools  recom- 
mended the  following  course  as  the  ideal  at  which  the 
normal  school  should  aim:^ 

I. — Man  in  himself^  embracing:  physiology,  psychology,  ethics, 
religion.  II. — Man  in  the  race,  embracing:  history,  anthropology, 
literature,  general  psychology.  III. — Man  in  nature,  embracing: 
physics,  chemistry,  biology,  mathematics,  physiography,  astron- 
omy. IV. — Man  in  society,  embracing:  sociology,  government, 
home  economics.  V. — Man  in  expression,  embracing:  language, 
drawing,  construction,  physical  culture,  music,  art.  VI. — Man  in 
school,  embracing:  philosophy  of  education,  science  and  art  of 
teaching,  history  of  education,  school  economics. 

It  is  significant  that  this  committee  looked  upon 
religious  teaching  not  only  as  necessary  for  "man  in 
himself,"  but  also  as  the  most  important  of  the  four 
subjects  grouped  under  that  heading:  this  is  indicated 
by  the  order  in  which  they  named  it.^  In  the  estimation 
of  the  members,  ethics  without  religion  would  not  be 
sufficient  for  the  future  teacher.  This  phase  of  the 
matter  under  consideration  at  once  raises  the  question : 
What  is  the  criterion  that  should  determine  the  selection 
of  subjects  for  the  curriculum?  An  answer  has  been 
given  by  Professor  Dewey  in  discussing  this  topic  with 
reference  to  the  common  school.  With  slight  modifica- 
tion it  may  be  applied  to  the  normal  school  also. 


^Ibid.,  chap.  IV. 

^National  Education  Association  Proceedings,  1899,  p.  841. 
'  See  also  The  Modern  High  School^  by  Johnston  and  others, 
pp.  763,  754.. 


The  Curriculum  of  the  Normal  School,         13 

"A  study  is  to  be  considered  as  a  means  of  bringing  the  child 
to  realize  the  social  scene  of  action.  Thus  considered,  it  gives  a 
criterion  for  selection  of  material  and  for  judgment  of  values. 
We  have  at  present  three  independent  values  set  up"  [viz.,  cul- 
ture, information,  discipline].* 

If,  in  this  statement,  the  phrase  "social  scene  of 
action"  be  interpreted  broadly,  the  "ideal"  course  men- 
tioned above  will  be  found  to  measure  up  to  this  require- 
ment. However,  the  general  lines  of  the  curriculum 
w'hich  every  school  should  aim  to  include  have  been 
sketched  more  briefly  and  indicated  more  clearly  under 
these  five  topics :  literature,  science,  art,  religion,  and 
institutions.^  Collectively  they  constitute  what  is  some- 
times spoken  of  as  man's  "five-fold  spiritual  inherit- 
ance." We  conclude,  therefore,  that  the  normal  school 
as  a  school  must  either  presuppose  or  provide  training 
in  these  five  subjects;  that  is,  in  the  first  five  divisions 
of  the  "ideal"  scheme  outlined  above.  As  a  normal,  or 
professional  school  it  must  likewise  include  the  theory 
and  the  practice  of  teaching.^  The  theory  is  provided 
for  in  the  sixth  division  of  the  "ideal"  plan,  and  the 
practice  is  realized  in  classes  for  the  observation  of 
model  lessons  and  methods,  and  for  the  teaching  given 
by  normal  students  under  direction  and  subject  to 
criticism. 

In  concluding  this  section  we  again  call  attention  to 


'  Op.  cit.,  p.  21. 

'Butler,  Meaning  of  Education,  p.  17;  Shields,  Psychology  of 
Education,  Lesson  IX,  pp.   111-114. 

"  Cf .  Ruediger,  Principles  of  Education,  pp.  5,  10;  Gordy,  op. 
cit.,  pp.  129,  130;  Elmer  E.  Brown,  Education,  Vol.  XXIX,  pp.  1-6. 


14  The  Normal  School. 

the  fact  that  the  special  committee  appointed  in  1898 
by  the  National  Education  Association  to  prepare  a 
report  on  the  Function  of  the  Normal  School  regarded 
religion  as  an  essential  study  in  the  curriculum.  The 
quotation  which  we  have  given  from  Professor  Dewey 
suggests  the  value  of  the  moral  viewpoint  as  a  de- 
terminant of  the  method  of  teaching.  It  is  unequivo- 
cally asserted  by  Prof.  F.  W.  Foerster: 

"It  is  not  what  we  know,  but  for  what  purpose  we  know  it,  and 
in  what  relation  it  stands  to  the  Most  High  and  Almighty,  that 
is  of  importance  in  genuine  education.  It  is  not  the  fact  that 
we  can  read  and  write  that  really  matters,  but  what  we  read  and 
write."  ^ 

Yet  in  spite  of  this,  we  find  the  following  "Summary  of 
Inferences  and  Conclusions"  given  by  Prof.  W.  C.  Bag- 
ley,  in  1911,  on  "The  Present  Status  of  Moral  Educa- 
tion in  Institutions  for  the  Training  of  Teachers" :  ^ 

"1.  Explicit  instruction  in  the  principles  of  moral  education 
is  provided  for  by  separate  courses  in  relatively  few  universities, 
colleges,  and  normal  schools.  Such  courses  are  found  much  less 
frequently  in  the  normal  schools  than  in  the  colleges  and  univer- 
sities. 


^  Jugendlehre  (p.  7) :  "Nicht  dass  man  etwas  weiss,  sondern 
wozu  man  es  weiss  und  in  welchem  Zuzammenhang  mit  dem 
Allerhochsten  und  Allerwichtigsten — das  macht  echte  Bildung 
aus.  Und  nicht  dass  man  lesen  und  schreiben  kann,  sondern  was 
man  liest  und  was  man  schreibt,  darauf  kommt  es  an." 

Although  not  a  Catholic,  Dr.  Foerster,  formerly  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Zurich,  now  of  the  University  of  Vienna,  has  been 
brought,  by  his  studies  and  his  experience  in  the  training  of 
youth,  from  the  tenets  of  Ethical  Culture  "to  the  verv  doors  of 
Rome." 

*See  Religious  Ed/ucation,  February,  1911,  "Training  Public 
School  Teachers,"  pp.  639  f.;  also  pp.  633,  634. 


The  Curriculum  of  the  Normal  School.         15 

"2.  Courses  in  ethics  are  offered  in  seventy  per  cent,  of  the 
colleges  and  universities,  and  in  twenty-two  per  cent,  of  the 
normal  schools.  In  neither  type  of  institution  are  the  courses  in 
ethics  frequently  required  of  intending  teachers. 

"3.  Instruction  in  the  principles  and  methods  of  moral  educa- 
tion seems  to  be  chiefly  provided  for  by  the  courses  in  the  history 
and  theory  of  education,  and  in  school  management.  Although 
more  than  a  majority  of  the  instructors  in  these  institutions 
believes  that,  in  the  lower  schools,  indirect  moral  instruction 
through  literature,  history,  and  science  has  a  very  important 
place,  there  seems  to  be  little  explicit  effort  to  emphasize,  in 
presenting  these  subjects  to  intending  teachers,  the  methods 
through  which  their  moral  values  may  be  realized.  It  is  to  be 
inferred  that  this  is  done  mainly  in  the  instruction  which  is  pro- 
vided in  the  history  and  theory  of  education,  and  possibly  also  in 
connection  with  observation  and  practice  teaching. 

"4.  A  majority  of  those  engaged  in  the  teaching  of  teachers 
for  the  elementary  and  secondary  schools  place  the  greatest 
emphasis  upon  school  life  as  a  source  of  moral  education,  although 
indirect  but  systematic  instruction  through  literature,  history,  and 
science  is  also  deemed  to  be  of  very  great  importance.  A  strong 
minority  favors  explicit  instruction  through  principle  and  precept 
illustrated  by  concrete  cases.  The  prevailing  opinion  is  that 
religious  instruction  in  any  form  has  no  place  in  the  elementary 
and  secondary  schools. 

"6.  There  is  noticeable  among  many  of  those  engaged  in  the 
training  of  teachers  a  feeling  that  the  problems  of  moral  educa- 
tion are  particularly  intangible  and  elusive,  and  that  a  concerted 
effort  to  untangle  at  least  some  of  the  strands  in  this  web  is 
essential  to  the  next  step  in  educational  progress." 

From  these  citations  we  seem  to  be  justified  in  con- 
cluding that,  in  the  discharge  of  its  function  of  training 
intending  teachers  for  the  work  of  developing  the  social 
efficiency  of  their  future  pupils,  the  normal  school 
relies  chiefly  (1)  upon  forming  the  normal  students  to 
right  methods  of  teaching,  and  (2)  upon  subjecting 
the  personality  of  the  normal  students  to  the  inspiring 


16  The  Normal  School 

personality  of  the  normal  staff.     Let  us  now  briefly 
consider  the  question  of  method. 

Article  IV, — Method  m  the  Normal  School, 

Method  in  general  signifies  a  way  of  doing  something. 
In  both  its  etymology  and  its  application  the  term 
implies  at  least  a  possible  choice  of  ways.  It  is  also 
inseparably  and  essentially  bound  up  with  the  idea  of 
a  goal  to  be  reached,  a  purpose  to  be  attained.  The 
value  of  a  method  of  education  must  therefore  be  de- 
termined first  of  all  by  its  intrinsic  connection  with  the 
end  and  aim  of  education.  Its  actual  efficiency  must 
depend  upon  the  knowledge  and  the  skill  of  the  teacher 
who  applies  it.  What  method  is  most  highly  recom- 
mended to-day  by  educators  of  repute  and  influence? 

It  is  the  genetic  method.  Its  vogue  is  due  to  the 
doctrine  of  evolution,  whose  principles  and  methods 
have  seeped  through  every  stratum  of  the  educational 
system.  We  may  sum  up  its  functions  in  three  words : 
Study  present  conditions,  trace  their  origin  in  the  past, 
make  a  forecast  of  the  effects  which  they  are  likely  to 
produce  in  the  future.  In  the  words  of  Professor 
Dewey  :^ 

"The  method,  as  well  as  the  material,  is  genetic  when  the  effort 
is  made  to  see  just  why  and  how  the  fact  shows  itself,  what  is 
the  state  out  of  which  it  naturally  proceeds,  what  the  conditions 
of  its  manifestation,  how  it  came  to  be  there  anyway,  and  what 


^  Introduction,  pp.  xiii,  xv,  to  Irving  King's  Psychology  of 
Child  Development.  Cf.  also  Dr.  Pace,  "Survey  of  the  Prob- 
lems," Lesson  III,  iii  Dr.  Shields'  Psychology  of  Education. 


Method  in  the  Normal  School,  17 

other  changes  it  arouses  or  checks  after  it  comes  to  be  there. 
.  .  .  In  a  truly  genetic  method,  the  idea  of  genesis  looks  both 
ways;  this  fact  is  itself  generated  out  of  certain  conditions,  and 
in  turn  tends  to  generate  something  else." 

The  graduate  of  the  normal  school  must  be  equipped 
to  grasp  the  significant  relations  of  the  various  school 
studies  to  the  realities  of  life,  to  trace  their  connections 
with  the  activities  in  which  the  pupils  of  the  grade 
schools  are  interested;  in  a  word,  to  make  the  knowl- 
edge that  is  of  most  worth  function  in  building  up  in 
the  pupils,  both  as  individuals  and  as  members  of  a 
group,  the  habits  that  make  for  honorable  citizenship. 
In  the  words  of  Dr.  Foerster:  ^ 

"The  training  of  the  educator  and  teacher  must  follow  two 
lines:  on  the  one  hand,  it  must  observe  and  study  in  detail  the 
actual  world  as  the  child  experiences  it;  and  on  the  other,  it  must 
examine  what  moral  action  is  to  be  required  of  the  child — 
for  this  purpose  not  only  investigating  in  a  general  way  the 
philosophical  or  religious  basis  of  such  action,  but  also  and 
especially  thoroughly  grasping  its  concrete  meaning  and  content, 
its  bearings  on  all  other  spheres  of  life,  and  its  sociological  and 
biological  aspects." 

The  school,  therefore,  must  function  as  a  social  in- 


^  Jugendlehre  (p.  21):  "Die  Schulung  des  Erziehers  und 
Lehrers  muss  dementsprechend  nach  zwei  Richtungen  gehen/ 
Einmal  jene  wirkliche  Welt  des  Kindes  eingehend  zu  beobachten 
und  zu  studieren — und  andererseits  die  geforderte  sittliche 
I.eistung  nicht  etwa  nur  in  ihrer  philosophischen  oder  religiosen 
Begriindung  zu  erforschen,  sondern  sie  vor  allem  in  ihrem  kon- 
kreten  Sinn  und  Gehalt,  ihren  Bedingungen  zu  alien  andern 
Lebensgebieten,  ihrer  soziologischen  und  biologischen  Seite 
erschopfend  aufzufassen."  See  also  E.  J.  Swift,  Learning  and 
Doing,  Chap.  11,  "Efficient  Teaching;"  Joseph  K.  Hart,  A  Crit- 
ical Study  of  Current  Theories  of  Moral  Education,  pp.  27,  28; 
G.  H.  Betts,  Social  Principles  of  Education,  p.  91, 


18  The  Normal  School. 

stitution.  To  be  able  to  co-operate  in  making  this 
phase  of  school  life  effective,  the  intending  teacher 
must  receive  preparation  in  the  normal  school.  What, 
then,  is  the  atmosphere  of  the  normal  school?  Does  it 
favor  the  development,  by  the  teacher,  of  a  genuine 
social  spirit  in  the  schoolroom  in  which  he  begins  to 
teach? 

Article  V, — The  Spirit  of  the  Normal  School. 

We  again  quote  from  what  has  been  termed  the 
"Normal  School  Bible,"  ^  viz.,  the  Report  of  the  Special 
Committee  on  the  "Function  of  the  Normal  School." 
In  the  section  on  the  "Inner  Life  of  the  Normal  School" 
we  read: 

"In  the  school  life  of  normal  schools  there  is  probably  collected 
a  larger  percentage  of  serious-minded,  thoughtful,  earnest  people 
than  in  any  other  kind  of  an  educational  institution.  The 
majority  of  these  have  a  definite  purpose  and  are  prepared  to 
do  very  much  for  each  other  socially,  morally,  religiously. 
Wherever  the  student  organizations  known  as  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association  and  the  Young  Women's  Association  are 
encouraged  and  authorized  to  exist,  there  great  benefit  has  always 
come  to  the  moral  and  religious  life  of  the  general  student 
body."  ^ 

The  worth  of  a  right  spirit  in  the  school  is  clearly 
indicated  in  the  following  lines: 

"The  first  requisite  in  the  discharge  of  its  function  is  that  the 
normal  school  shall  inspire  the  student  with  the  spirit  of  the  true 
teacher.     Its  atmosphere  must  be  such  that  he  will  be  continually 


^National  Education  Association  Proceedings,  1909,  p.  561. 
*  Rational  Education  Association  Proceedings,  1899,  p.  862. 


The  Spirit  of  the  Normal  School.  19 

breathing  in  this  spirit.  He  is  to  consider  the  acquisition  and 
use  of  knowledge,  the  exercises  of  the  school,  his  own  purpose, 
manners,  and  conduct  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  teacher.  It 
is  vitally  important  to  awaken  in  the  normal  student  a  just 
appreciation  of  the  work  of  the  teacher,  that  he  must  have  the 
spirit  of  service,  must  love  his  work,  love  his  pupils,  feel  that  he 
has  a  mission  which  he  must  accomplish,  and  come  to  his  pupils, 
as  the  Great  Teacher  comes  to  men,  that  they  may  have  life 
abundantly.  This  end  can  be  accomplished  only  by  a  school 
whose  sole  purpose  is  the  education  of  teachers,  and  whose 
faculty  is  consecrated  to  this  service."  ^ 

These  are  noble  words.  Their  acceptance  makes  it 
obHgatory  on  the  faculty  of  the  normal  school  (1)  to 
cherish  a  high  ideal  of  their  profession,  (2)  persistently 
to  endeavor  to  live  up  to  it  with  a  view  to  inspire  and 
to  train  the  normal  students  under  their  guidance.  In 
other  words,  the  spirit  of  the  normal  school  depends 
chiefly  on  the  personality  of  the  teachers.^  And  so 
we  are  brought  back  to  our  first  topic,  the  aim  of  the 
normal  school,  which  we  saw  depends  for  its  realization 
on  the  personality  of  the  teaching  staff.  The  words  of 
Archbishop  J.  L.  Spalding  are  true:  "As  the  heart 
makes  the  home,  the  teacher  makes  the  school."  ^  Now 
personality  spells  character.  In  the  words  of  Col. 
Francis  W.  Parker:  "No  matter  how  much  educators 
may  differ  in  regard  to  the  means  and  methods  of  teach- 
ing,  upon   one   point  there  is   substantial   agreement; 


'  Ibid.,  pp.  884,  886. 

»Cf.  Rt.  Rev.  T.  J.  Conaty,  D.  D.,  "The  Personality  of  the 
Teacher,"  in  National  Education  Association  Proceedings,  1907, 
pp.  77-87;  also  Moral  Training  in  the  Public  Schools.  Essay  by 
Charles  E.  Rugh,  p.  20. 

^  Means  and  Ends  of  Education,  p.  136. 


W  The  Norrnal  School 

viz.,  that  the  end  and  aim  of  all  education  is  the  de- 
velopment of  character."  ^ 

What  is  character?  This  unmistakable  stamp 
upon  the  moral  fiber  of  the  individual  has  two  distinc- 
tive marks:  unity  and  stability  of  purpose.  They  are 
acquired  through  self-knowledge  and  self-dominion.^ 
They  are  the  product  of  intellectual  and  moral  habits. 
Character  therefore  implies  a  comprehension  of  the 
meaning  of  life,  a  clear  vision  of  end  and  means  and 
values.  Does  the  present  tendency  to  secure  moral 
training  by  organizing  the  child's  experiences  give  due 
recognition  to  the  elements  of  character?  May  edu- 
cation be  adequately  defined  as  "the  progressive  recon- 
struction of  experience,  with  a  growing  consciousness 
of  social  values  and  an  increasing  control  over  the 
processes  of  experience?"  ^  Does  not  this  view  suggest 
Herbert  Spencer's  definition  of  the  moral  sense;  viz., 
"the  experiences  of  utility  organized  and  consolidated 
through  all  past  generations  of  the  human  race?"  *  Is 
the  experience  of  the  race  to  be  the  sole  guide  of  the 
teacher  in  the  discharge  of  his  apostolic  functions? 
Who  or  what  shall  interpret  this  experience?     More- 


^  Talks  on  Teaching^  p.  164,  ed.  1893. 

"See  Gillet,  The  Education  of  Character,  pp.  16  ff.,  30  ff. 
Arthur  Holmes  somewhat  inadequately  defines  character  as  "the 
total  customary  reaction  of  an  individual  to  his  environment." 
Principles  of  Character  Making,  p.  28.  His  fundamental  prin- 
ciples are  opposed  to  Catholic  teaching.  Cf.  Catholic  Educational 
Review,  Jan.,  1915. 

"  Betts,  Social  Principles  of  Education,  p.  164. 
^  Letter   to   John   Stuart   Mill,   quoted   in   Bain's   Mental   and 
Moral  Science,  p.  722,  ed.  1868. 


Limitations  of  the  Normal  School,  ^1 

over,  if  the  interpreter  of  experience  lack  the  confidence 
that  springs  from  the  assured  possession  of  the  truth, 
how  can  he  stir  the  deeper  emotions  that  direct  the 
current  of  one's  Hfe?  In  the  words  of  St.  Paul:  ^'If 
the  trumpet  give  an  uncertain  sound,  who  shall  prepare 
himself  to  the  battle?"  ^  Whoever  accepts  Spencer's 
appraisal  of  the  moral  sense,  logically  admits  also  his 
definition  of  life  as  "the  continuous  adjustment  of  in- 
ternal relations  to  external  relations."  ^  Yet,  by  1898, 
Spencer  had  come  to  the  conchision  that  "in  its  ultimate 
nature  Life  is  incomprehensible."  ^  We  are  here  face  to 
face  with  difficulties. 

Article  VL — Limitations  of  the  Normal  School, 

We  have  considered  the  aim,  the  curriculum,  the 
method,  and  the  spirit  of  the  normal  school.  We  have 
found  that  in  all  these  respects  the  absolutely  indis- 
pensable factor  is  the  personality  of  the  teacher 
— of  the  teacher  that  is,  forming  and  developing 
the  personality  of  the  teacher  that  is  to  be.  Modem 
pedagogy  refers  this  fact  to  the  principle  of  "ex- 
pression through  action" ;  that  is,  the  teacher's 
mental  attitude  is  expressed  in  his  conduct.*  The 
formation  of  a  noble  character  is  dependent  on  the  de- 
velopment of  right  mental  and  moral  habits.    But  habit- 


^I  Cor.  xiv,  8. 

*  Principles  of  Biology,  Vol.  I,  p.  30. 

»See   his   letter  in  Nature    (London),   October    12,   1898,   Vol. 
LVIII,  pp.  592,  593. 

*  Cf .  Thorndike,  Education,  p.  186. 


^2  The  Normal  School, 

building  demands  more  than  frequent  and  regular  repe- 
tition of  acts.  These  acts  must  be  performed  under  the 
stress  of  deep  emotion  if  they  are  to  contribute  their 
share  to  the  life,  the  higher  life,  of  either  intending 
teacher  or  prospective  pupil.  Professor  Starbuck  says 
it  "seems  to  be  one  of  the  great  streams  of  religious 
development,  to  give  those  deeper  racial  instincts  which 
are  consistent  with  self -development  and  the  develop- 
ment of  society  the  fullest  possible  expression,  and 
gradually  to  transform  and  enlarge  them  into  spiritual 
forces."  ^  Supplementing  this  is  the  statement  of  Frank 
Cramer  in  the  fourth  of  the  California  Prize  Essays  : 

"Without  either  insisting  or  desiring  that  the  religious  sanctions 
of  morality  be  directly  taught  in  the  schools,  we  may  here  admit 
the  secret  of  the  perennial  power  of  the  religious  sanctions  of 
morality  as  it  is  generally  understood  in  our  country.  It  is  based 
not  on  the  power  to  command  and  the  duty  to  obey,  but  on  a 
personal,  spiritual  relation  between  the  individual  and  his  God — 
a  relation  that  is  immediate,  constant,  and  worthy,  and  that  no 
changes  in  life  or  environment  can  modify.  History  has  proved 
this  Hebrew-Christian  view  to  be  the  only  one  that  can  hold 
common  men  intellectually  and  spiritually  true  to  the  best  ideals 
of  the  race."'' 

The  reflections   of  Archbishop   J.  L.   Spalding  are 
here  pertinent  : 

"If  education  is  a  training  for  completeness  of  life,  its  primary 
element  is  the  religious,  for  complete  life  is  life  in  God.  Hence 
we  may  not  assume  an  attitude  toward  the  child,  whether  in  the 
home,  in  the  church,  or  in  the  school,  which  might  imply  that  life 
apart  from  God  could  be  anything  else  than  broken  and  frag- 


^  Psychology  of  Religion,  p.  847. 

^  Moral  Training  in  the  Public  Schools,  p.  139. 


Limitations  of  the  Normal  School,  23 

mentary.  A  complete  man  is  not  one  whose  mind  only  is  active 
and  enlightened;  but  he  is  a  complete  man  who  is  alive  in  all  his 
faculties.  The  truly  human  is  found  not  in  knowledge  alone, 
but  also  in  faith,  in  hope,  in  love,  in  pure-mindedness,  in  rever- 
ence, in  the  sense  of  beauty,  in  devoutness,  in  the  thrill  of  awe 
which  Goethe  says  is  the  highest  thing  in  man.  If  the  teacher  is 
forbidden  to  touch  upon  religion,  the  source  of  these  noble  virtues 
and  ideal  moods  is  sealed.  His  work  and  influence  become 
mechanical,  and  he  will  form  but  commonplace  and  vulgar  men. 
And  if  an  educational  system  is  established  on  this  narrow  and 
material  basis,  the  result  will  be  deterioration  of  the  national 
type,  and  the  loss  of  the  finer  qualities  which  make  men  many- 
sided  and  interesting,  which  are  the  safeguards  of  personal  purity 
and  of  unselfish  conduct."  ^ 

How  does  this  restriction  affect  the  normal  school? 

1.  In  the  first  place,  it  lowers  the  aim.  The  teacher 
may  not  officially  look  upon  the  Great  Teacher  of  man- 
kind as  the  divine  Exemplar  of  his  office.  Indeed  many 
of  the  books  written  by  prominent  educators  of  our  age 
place  the  Founder  of  Christianity  in  the  same  rank  with 
Socrates,  Plato,  Locke,  and  Milton.  This  very  attitude 
narrows  the  vision  of  the  intending  teacher  and  lessens 
the  nobility  of  his  profession,  whose  worth,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  Christian  projects  into  a  world  beyond  time. 
The  development  of  both  his  own  and  his  pupils'  char- 
acter is  no  longer  fraught  with  such  teeming  interest, 
for  the  results  are  virtually  limited  to  the  brief  span  of 
a  human  life.  Yet  the  Christian  believes  firmly  that 
these  effects  are  everlasting.  Even  though  the.  teacher 
profess  as  an  individual  the  faith  established  by  Jesus 
Christ,  yet  as  teacher  he  continually  finds  his  religious 
freedom  circumscribed  in  its  natural  exercise  and  ex- 


^  Means  and  Ends  of  Education,  pp.  168,  169. 


M  The  Normal  School. 

pression  by  the  formal  prohibition  against  the  teaching 
of  rehgion. 

2.  This  restriction  affects  the  curriculum.  It  is 
indeed  true  that  Christianity,  for  example,  is  not  a  mere 
body  of  doctrine  to  be  learned;  it  is  pre-eminently  a 
code  of  perfection  to  be  lived.  Yet  the  very  omission 
of  a  subject  from  the  curriculum  is  in  itself  a  judgment 
against  the  relative  value  of  that  subject.  Neither 
teacher  nor  pupil  in  the  normal  school  is  completely 
immune  against  such  a  deadly  innuendo.^  This  prohi- 
bition likewise  extends  to  the  positively  religious  as- 
pects of  other  subjects  in  the  curriculum,  and  it  falls 
with  a  special  severity  upon  one  field  of  English  litera- 
ture. 

"Knowledge  of  the  English  Bible  is  passing  out  of  the  life  of 
the  rising  generation,  and  .  .  .  with  this  knowledge  of  the 
Bible  there  is  fast  disappearing  any  acquaintance  with  the 
religious  element  which  has  shaped  our  civilization  from  the  begin- 
ning. .  .  .  Teachers  all  over  this  land  are  trying  to  teach 
Chaucer  and  Spenser,  Shakespeare,  Tennyson,  and  Browning. 
How  are  they  to  understand  men  who  refer  to  the  Bible,  that 
veritable  treasure-house  of  literature,  on  every  page,  if  they 
cannot  take  the  children  to  the  source  from  which  the  supply  is 
drawn?  How  are  they  to  discuss  and  interpret  the  style  of 
Ruskin,  of  Carlyle,  of  Emerson?  How  are  they  to  teach  the 
history  of  the  heroes  of  our  own  independence,  many  of  whom 
were  religious  in  every  fiber  of  their  being,  and  whose  work  will 
continue  to  bear  the  stamp  put  upon  it  in  the  beginning,  utterly 
regardless  of  what  has  become  of  religious  faith  in  the  interval? 
How  is  one  to  teach  the  truth  as  history  reveals  it,  unless  he 
teaches  the  whole  truth?"* 


^  Cf.  E.  A.  Ross,  Social  Psychology,  pp.  18,  19.     . 
^  N.  M.  Butler,  "Some  Pressing  Problems,"  p.   74,  in  National 
Education  Association  Proceedings,  1902. 


Limitations  of  the  Normal  School.  25 

3.  This  prohibition  against  the  teaching  of  a  definite 
faith  in  the  State  normal  schools  has  its  effect  upon 
method  also.  "The  fact  that  religious  instruction  is 
excluded  makes  it  all  the  more  necessary,"  says  Arch- 
bishop Spalding,  "that  humanizing  and  ethical  aims 
should  be  kept  constantly  in  view."  ^  In  every  subject, 
in  every  lesson,  the  teacher  must  strive  to  keep  the 
ethical  content  and  viewpoint  well  to  the  fore.  Not, 
indeed,  that  this  is  sufficient  for  a  thoroughly  Christian 
scheme  of  education,  but  it  is  all  that  the  law  allows. 
And  yet  book  after  book,  review  after  review  that 
touches  upon  this  theme,  tells  of  how  inadequate  are  the 
means  at  hand  to  fit  the  young  generation  for  life's 
trials  and  temptations.  The  "self-realization"  of  the 
play-ground,  the  school-city,  and  vocational  training 
must  be  crowned  by  "self-mastery."  Of  old  it  was 
termed  self-denial,  by  Christian  writers.^  That  it  is  not 
less  necessary  to-day  than  when  it  was  fed  by  living 
faith,  may  appear  from  the  statement  of  the  Head 
Master  of  Eton,  that  "the  most  certain  result"  of  sep- 
arating a  child's  morality  from  his  religious  belief,  is 
"the  perishing  of  the  latter  and  the  weakening  of  the 
former."  ^  He  adds :  "If,  on  the  other  hand,  there  have 
been  no  religious  beliefs  implanted,  I  should  say  that, 
with  a  normal  child,  good  moral  instruction  would  very 
often  secure  chastity  during  boyhood,  but  would  be  an 


^  Means  and  Ends  of  Education,  p.  141. 
"Cf.  Matt,  xvi,  24. 

"  Edward   Lyttleton,  Educational  Review,  Vol.   XL VI    (Sept., 
1913),  p.  137.    See  also  p.  138, 


26  The  Normal  School. 

insufficient  protection  during  adolescence  and  early 
manhood,  when  deeply  laid  principles  are  required  to 
take  the  place  of  simple  obedience  to  parents." 

The  method  that  meets  with  greatest  favor  to-day  is 
the  genetic  method  already  described;  but  its  scope  is 
greatly  circumscribed  by  the  exclusion  of  religion  and 
the  religious  viewpoint.  The  value  of  the  exact  sciences 
is  not  comparable  to  the  worth  of  an  exact  knowledge 
of  man's  origin,  nature,  and  destiny ;  and  this  knowledge 
is  given  by  dogmatic  Christianity.  Yet  it  is  not  easy 
to  overestimate  the  value  of  such  living  moral  methods 
as  are  sketched  by  Professor  Foerster  in  his  Jugend- 
lehre  (Instruction  of  Youth).  Could  they  be  applied 
by  thoroughly  Christian  teachers  full  of  intelligent  zeal 
for  their  calling  and  free  to  follow  the  inspirations  of 
their  faith,  these  methods  would  prove  to  be  beyond 
price.  Just  as  Cardinal  Newman  has  paid  high  tribute 
to  the  value  of  natural  religion,^  so,  since  "Grace  com- 
pletes nature,"  every  Christian  should  desire  to  have 
the  best  natural  conditions  obtain  as  affording  a  richer 
opportunity  for  the  action  of  grace.  We  therefore  com- 
mend three  other  books  of  Dr.  Foerster:  Schule  wnd 
Charakter  (School  and  Character),  which  he  calls  a 
"contribution  to  the  pedagogy  of  obedience  and  to  the 
reform  of  school  discipline";  Lehensfuhrwng  (The 
Conduct  of  Life),  "a  book  for  young  people";  and 
Sexualethih  und  SexualpddagogiJc,  the  English  transla- 


^  Grammar  of  Assent,  pp.  389-408.  Baudin,  "I.a  Philosophic  de 
la  Foi  chez  Newman"  (June,  July,  Sept.,  Oct.,  1906),  in  Revue  de 
Philosophies  thinks  that  Newman  magnifies  the  scope  of  natural 
religion. 


Limitations  of  the  Normal  School,  37 

tion  of  which  bears  the  title  "Marriage  and  the  Sex- 
Problem."  Yet,  great  as  is  the  favor  with  which  these 
books  have  been  received,  and  however  dynamic  their 
methods,  the  author  has  confessed  that  they  are  very 
inadequate  for  present  needs.  "He  has  no  doubt  that 
the  more  pedagogy  is  really  concerned  with  the  con- 
crete problem  of  character-formation,  with  the  dark 
enigma  of  man's  self-seeking,  with  his  tragic  dissension 
of  will,  with  the  psychology  of  experimentation,  and 
with  the  dynamics  of  self-conquest,  the  safer  will  it  be 
to  recognize  again  the  pedagogically  indispensable 
character  of  religious  inspiration  and  the  insufficiency 
of  the  modern  substitute."  These  words  are  taken  from 
his  address  at  the  Second  International  Congress  of 
Moral  Education,  held  at  The  Hague  in  1912.^ 

The  method  which  Dr.  Foerster  and  others  have 
advocated  is  at  best  a  help.  It  is  not  a  substitute  for 
religion. 

4.  The  spirit  of  the  school  also  suffers  from  this 
restriction.  It  is  a  fact  of  experience,  which  the  psy- 
chologist has  endeavored  to  explain,  that  the  average 
man  will  express  his  religious  feelings  and  convictions 
freely  only  in  the  presence  of  those  who  share  his  faith 
or  at  least  regard  it  with  no  unfriendly  eye.^  Such  an 
attitude  tends  to  dim  the  luster  of  faith  and  to  lower 
the  pulse  of  charity.  The  supernatural  ceases  to  be  the 
great  motive  power  in  life,  and  the  longing  for  the 

^  M^moires  sur  VEducation  Morale  'pr4sent4s  au  deuandme 
Congrds,  August,  1912,  p.  6. 

*  Cf.  Father  Faber,  Notes  on  Doctrinal  and  Spiritual  Subjects, 
Vol.  II,  "English  Catholicism,"  pp.  97-116. 


28  The  Normal  School, 

better  and  nobler  activities  dies  down  to  contentment 
with  an  ordinary  existence.  This  in  turn  reacts  on  our 
associates  and  through  them  also  upon  others.^  And 
so  it  is  that  the  illumination  of  supernatural  faith  is 
wanting  to  the  teaching  staff  and  to  the  students  in 
their  mutual  relations,  to  the  subjects  of  study,  and 
even  to  the  profession  of  teaching.  Hence  it  is  that 
the  best  fuel  for  life-long  consecration  to  the  work  of 
education  is  often  wanting  and  the  professional  spirit 
may  wane.^ 

Article  VII , — Summary, 

Fortunately  we  have  received  from  the  past  a  rich 
heritage  of  Christian  doctrine.  Christian  ideals,  and 
Christian  standards.  Even  non-Christians  cannot  es- 
cape their  influence.  But  if  we  would  be  true  to  our 
trust,  we  must  accept  this  faith,  cherish  these  ideals, 
and  square  our  lives  by  these  standards.  The  public 
school  system  of  this  country  is  an  act  of  faith  in  the 
efficacy  of  universal  education.  It  is  an  act  of  faith  in 
the  loyalty  of  the  public  school  teachers.     It  is  an  act 


*The  reverse  of  this  picture  is  well  described  by  Foerster: 
"Eine  Ahnung  von  der  Heiligkeit  dieser  Kunst  bekommt  man 
manchmal,  wenn  man  einmal  so  einem  begiiadeten  Menschen 
begegnet,  dessen  blosse  Nahe  so  wirkt,  dass  wir  das  Beste  sagen 
was  in  uns  ist  und  uns  besser  ftihlen  in  seiner  Gegenwart — ein 
Mensch,  der  alles  von  uns  erreichen  kann,  was  er  will,  well  sein 
Ton  es  bewirkt,  dass  wir  alles  vergessen,  was  hart  und  wild  in 
uns  ist,  und  nur  noch  atmen  und  leben  mogen  mit  dem  was  ihm 
ahnlich  ist."  Jugendlehre,  p.  52.  Cf.  Cardinal  Newman  on  the 
"Idea  of  a  Saint,"  Discourses  Addressed  to  Mixed  Congregations, 
pp.  94,  95. 

^Cf.  G.  H.  Betts,  Social  Principles  of  Education,  p.  111. 


Summary.  29 

of  faith  in  the  possibility  of  equal  opportunity  to  all.  It 
is  faith,  for  it  is  "the  evidence  of  things  that  appear 
not."  ^  But  the  faith  is  human ;  it  does  not  rise  to  the 
fatherhood  of  God;  it  does  not  grasp  the  deeper  mean- 
ing of  the  brotherhood  of  man.  May  not  divine  faith 
be  incorporated  in  the  work  of  education?  This  ques- 
tion we  will  consider  in  the  next  chapter. 

^  Heb.  xi,  2. 


CHAPTER    II. 


The  Religious  Novitiate. 


Article  L — The  Religious  Life  in  General, 

Since  the  Religious  Novitiate  is  the  period  of  prep- 
aration for  entrance  into  a  religious  order,  its  value  is 
to  be  estimated  in  terms  of  the  religious  life  for  which 
it  prepares.  It  is  therefore  necessary  to  consider 
briefly  the  nature  and  the  purpose  of  the  religious  life 
as  developed  in  and  by  the  orders  and  congregations 
of  the  Catholic  Church.  However  much  these  societies 
may  difl*er  in  the  aim  peculiar  to  each,  they  all  agree  in 
their  endeavor  to  procure  the  glory  of  God  by  labori "" 
for  the  salvation  of  the  souls  of  the  individual  mt  ^' 
Moreover,  since  they  possess  a  unity  analogous  in  kind, 
but  superior  in  eflicacy,  to  that  of  the  living  organism, 
the  welfare  of  the  whole  society  redounds  tv:  the  benefit 
of  each  individual  member,  and  vice  versa.  Further- 
more since  each  order  or  congregation  seeks  to  apply 
in  a  special  way  the  principles  of  Christian  teaching 
and  practice  promulgated  by  the  Catholic  Church,  it 
follows  that  the  excellence  which  it  attains  or  the  good 
which  it  works,  becomes  part  of  the  common  treasury 
of  the  whole  Catholic  Church.  Hence  it  is  that  each 
such  religious  society  is  a  genuinely  social  institution, 
contributing  generously  to  the  welfare  not  only  of  the 

80 


The  Religious  Life  in  General.  31 

Catholic  Church,  but  also  of  mankind  at  large.  This 
point  will  be  developed  more  fully  later.  Let  us  in  pass- 
ing note  this  fact  of  history,  to  which  Balmes  invites 
our  attention,^  that  wherever  the  Church  thrives  and 
the  spirit  of  her  message  to  the  race  takes  deep  root, 
there  also  springs  up  a  crop  of  generous  souls  who  long 
for  the  more  perfect  realization  of  the  life  exemplified 
in  the  person  of  our  Saviour.  This  very  longing,  if 
persistent,  becomes,  for  its  possessor,  a  kind  of  tangible 
proof  of  his  latent  ability  to  pursue  this  higher  life. 
Among  Catholics  such  a  person  is  said  to  possess  a 
"vocation"  to  either  the  priesthood  or  the  religious 
life.^'  ' 


^  European  Civilization^  p.  221. 

*  That  the  religious  life  does  not  necessarily  include  the  priest- 
hood follows  from:  (1)  its  history  (Cf.  Montalembert,  Monks  of 
the  West,  Vol.  I,  pp.  166,  298,  398) ;  (2)  the  fact  that  it  is  open  to 
women;  (3)  the  approbation  which  the  Holy  See  has  given  to  lay 

is  orders  and  congregations  agree  in  these  respects: 
1.  i:ia,j^  are  associations  of  persons  of  the  same  sex  who  live 
under  a  common  rule;  2.  The  members  have  bound  themselves 
by  the  three  vows  of  voluntary  poverty,  perfect  chastity,  and 
entire  obedienc^  oto  strive  for  the  attainment  of  Christian  per- 
fection as  outlined  in  the  Gospels;  3.  Their  association  has  been 
sanctioned  by  papal,  or  at  least  by  episcopal,  approbation.  They 
differ,  however,  especially  in  this,  that  the  members  of  a  re- 
ligious order  are  bound  for  life  by  solemn  vows  with  their  de- 
rivative obligations;  whereas  the  members  of  a  religious  con- 
gregation are  bound  by  simple  vows,  which  at  first  may  be  tem- 
porary only,  i.  e.,  for  one  year  or  for  three  years,  but  which 
eventually  must  become  perpetual,  i.  e.,  they  must  cover  the  re- 
maining span  of  mortal  life.  Cf.  Heimbucher,  Die  Orden  umd 
Kongregationen  der  Katholischen  Kirche,  Vol.  I,  pp.  1  ff.,  23  ff. 
For  our  present  purpose  it  is  not  necessary  to  dwell  upon  the 
distinction  between  an  order  and  a  congregation.  Accordingly 
we  will  use  the  two  terms  interchangeably. 


32  The  Reliffious  Nomtiate. 

Since  those  persons  who  followed  the  call  to  this 
higher  life,  took  upon  themselves  the  special  obligation 
of  tending  to  the  perfection  of  Christianity  (that  is,  of 
striving  not  merely  to  keep  the  commandments  of  God, 
but  also  to  practise  the  Gospel  counsels),  they  became 
'bound'  to  the  service  of  God  in  a  special  way,  and  hence 
they  were  known  as  'religious.'  So  early  even  as  A.  D. 
450,  we  find  the  term  religio  used  by  the  Second  Coun- 
cil of  Aries  to  designate  what  would  now  be  called  a 
religious  order.  Later  the  term  ordo  (order)  was  sub- 
stituted, suggesting  more  particularly  the  idea  of  social 
organization.^  To  it  was  sometimes  added  the  quali- 
fying adjective  religiosus  (religious)  or  regvZaris  (ac- 
cording to  rule).  The  fundamental  idea  embodied  in 
the  word  'congregation'  is  that  of  flock;  viz.,  one  fold 
with  one  shepherd,  the  superior. 

From  these  considerations  certain  ideas  stand  out 
prominently:  1.  The  religious  life  as  expressed  in  the 
religious  orders  and  congregations  of  the  Catholic 
Church  is  a  state,^  constituted  such  by  the  vows ;  it  is 
therefore  a  permanent  institution,  and  as  such  includes : 
(a)  a  system  of  fundamental  principles  guiding  the  judg- 
ments and  correcting  the  conclusions  of  those  who  share 
its  life;  (b)  an  ethical  code,  determining  their  outward 
conduct  and  in  this  way  influencing  to  some  extent  the 
feelings  and  emotions  that  give  color  to  their  daily  life ; 
(c)  an  educational  agency  illustrating  in  a  notable  way 


^Id.,  p.  19. 

«St.  Thomas   (tr.   Proctor),  The  Religious  State,  Chaps.  XV, 
XVI. 


The  Religious  Life  in  General.  S8 

the  principle  that  solidarity  promotes  individuality — 
L  e.,  that  the  highest  development  of  the  individual  is 
attained  by  sincere  and  active  co-operation  in  the* work 
special  to  the  society/  S.  The  religious  state  imposes 
the  obligation  of  "tending  to  perfection"  by  the  practice 
of  the  Evangelical  counsels.  It  implies  continual  growth 
and  development.  "Not  to  advance  is  to  recede"  is  a 
maxim  of  spiritual  writers.  3.  In  other  words,  as  a 
state  tending  toward  Christian  perfection,  it  imposes  on 
its  members  the  obligation  of  striving  for  the  Christian 
ideal.  "I  have  given  you  a  new  commandment,"  said 
our  Lord;  "that  you  love  one  another  as  I  have  loved 
you."  ^  The  religious  life  is,  therefore,  characterized 
by  genuine  social  service.^ 

For  comprehensive  knowledge  of  these  principles,  for 
adequate  control  over  their  application,  for  habitual 
regulation  of  one's  conduct  by  the  great  end  to  which 
these  principles  should  lead,  careful,  consistent,  and 
persistent  preparation  is  not  only  advisable  but  im- 
perative. The  religious  life  is  more  than  a  craft  de- 
manding a  period  of  diligent  apprenticeship ;  it  is,  even 
in  the  language  of  the  Catholic  Church,  a  profession* 
as  well  as  a  vocation,  and  therefore,  like  the  so-called 
"learned  professions,"  it  calls  for  a  period  of  earnest 
preparation. 


^  Baldwin,  The  Individual  and  Society,  Chap.  I. 

'John  xiii,  34. 

'  Heimbucher,  op.  cit.,  pp.  109-111. 

*  Id.,  p.  20. 


84  The  Religious  Novitiate. 

A  religious  profession  is  obviously  a  public  assump- 
tion of  the  duties  of  the  religious  life.  According  to  the 
laws  of  the  Church  now  in  force,  it  "denotes  the  act  of 
embracing  the  religious  state  by  the  three  vows  of  pov- 
erty, chastity,  and  obedience  according  to  the  rule  of 
an  order  canonically  approved."  ^  Such  an  act  sup- 
poses in  the  one  who  makes  it,  ( 1 )  a  trained  will,  other- 
wise he  would  be  incapable  of  the  self-mastery  revealed 
in  his  act  of  "self-donation";  (^)  a  trained  judgment, 
extending  not  only  to  the  rights  and  privileges  accruing 
to  him  as  member  of  an  order,  but  also  and  in  a  par- 
ticular manner  to  the  obligations  which  he  freely  takes 
upon  himself  for  life;  (3)  a  practical  spirit  of  sincere 
co-operation  with  his  fellow-religious  in  those  channels 
of  social  service  through  which  the  order  justifies  before 
men  both  its  claim  to  existence  and  its  appeal  for  in- 
creased membership.  Engagements  of  this  kind  are  not 
lightly  to  be  assumed.  Hence  from  the  very  character 
of  the  religious  profession,  as  well  as  from  the  nature 
of  the  religious  life,  it  follows  that  a  period  of  prepara- 
tion is  indispensable.  If  years  of  careful  training  at 
West  Point  are  held  to  be  a  necessary  equipment  for 
military  service,  if  a  special  and  comprehensive  educa- 
tion is  considered  requisite  at  Annapolis  for  candidates 
for  the  Navy,  some  preparation  is  evidently  desirable 
in  one  who  is  to  devote  his  life  not  only  to  acquiring  the 
science  of  sanctity  but  also  to  becoming  proficient  in 
the  art  of  holy  living.  For  the  religious  life,  although 
a  state,  is,  in  the  mind  of  the  Church,  not  a  static  con- 


'Vermeersch,  Catholic  Encyclopedia,  "Profession,  Religious." 


The  Religious  Life  in  General,  86 

dition,  but  a  dynamic  factor  in  both  individual  develop- 
ment and  social  betterment. 

According  to  Professor  Ruediger,^  "Education  as  a 
professional  study  and  practice  has,  (1)  a  theory  of 
aims,  values,  and  content;  (2)  a  theory  of  instruction 
and  training;  (3)  a  history;  (4)  a  theory  of  manage- 
ment and  control;  and  (5)  a  technic  of  practice."  The 
religious  orders  hold  a  prominent  place  among  the 
great  educational  agencies  controlled  by  the  Catholic 
Church.  They  too  have:  (1)  a  theory  of  aims  and 
values  that  comes  from  the  very  Founder  of  Christian- 
ity; (2)  a  content  or  curriculum  embodying  the  best 
traditions  of  this  mode  of  life  from  the  days  of  the  first 
hermits  down  to  our  own  age;  (3)  a  method  of  instruc- 
tion and  training  that  has  grown  up  out  of  the  experi- 
ence of  the  great  founders  of  orders;  (4)  a  history 
that  is  intimately  connected  not  only  with  the  history 
of  the  Catholic  Church,  but  also  with  that  of  Christian 
civilization;  (5)  a  theory  of  management  and  control 
embodied  in  the  rules  and  constitutions  as  approved 
by  ecclesiastical  authority;  (6)  a  technic  of  practice 
which  is  begun  in  the  novitiate.  The  novitiate  is  there- 
fore the  "normal  school"  of  the  religious  life.  It  is  a 
school  that  prepares  for  the  profession  of  religion.  St. 
Benedict,  the  great  lawgiver  of  the  Monks  of  the  West, 
speaks  of  it  as  "the  school  of  the  Lord's  service."  ^ 


*  Principles  of  Education,  p.  10. 

*  Prologue  of  the  Rule,  tr.  by  a  monk  of  St.  Benedict's  Abbey, 
Fort  Augustus,  p.  11,  cited  by  T.  W.  Allies,  in  The  Monastic 
Life,  p.  176. 


36  The  Religious  Novitiate. 

Article  II. — The  Nature  and  Aim  of  the  Novitiate, 

The  period  of  preparation  for  that  formal  entrance 
into  the  religious  life  which  is  effected  by  the  act  of 
religious  profession,  is  known  as  the  novitiate.  The 
term  is  also  applied  to  the  house  in  which  this  prepara- 
tion is  made.  He  who  wishes  to  become  a  member  of 
the  order  is  known  as  a  'postulant'  from  the  time  when 
he  has  been  received  into  the  house  of  the  novitiate  to 
the  date  of  his  reception  of  the  religious  habit.  After 
his  request  for  admission  has  been  duly  accepted  by  the 
proper  authorities  in  the  order,  he  is  clothed  in  the 
religious  habit  and  is  henceforth  a  'novice.'  The  term 
itself  reminds  us  of  how  the  Catholic  Church  takes  the 
mean  and  lowly  things  of  this  world  and,  appropriating 
them  to  the  purposes  of  her  mission,  lifts  them  up  to  the 
plane  of  her  spiritual  life.  In  the  ancient  Roman  days 
of  the  elder  Cato,  a  'novice'  was  a  newly  acquired  slave, 
in  contrast  to  a  veterator,  a  slave  worn  out  by  years  of 
labor  and  suffering  in  the  service  of  a  master.  Now  the 
"word  novice  ...  is  the  canonical  Latin  name  of 
those,  who,  having  been  regularly  admitted  into  a  re- 
ligious order  and  ordinarily  confirmed  in  their  high 
vocation  by  a  certain  period  of  probation  as  postulants, 
are  prepared  by  a  series  of  exercises  and  tests  for  the 
religious  profession."  ^ 


^  A.  Vermeersch,  Catholic  Encyclopedia,  "Novice."  Cf. 
Heimbucher,  op.  cit.  Vol.  I,  pp.  7  ff.  Allies,  Formation  of 
Christendom^  Vol.  I,  p.  71.  When  Newman  was  made  Rector  of 
the  Catholic  University  of  Ireland,  he  asked  Mr.  Allies  to  take 
the  chair  of  history. 


The  Nature  mid  Aim  of  the  Novitiate.         37 

The  novitiate  is,  therefore,  (1)  a  period  of  prepara- 
tion. As  such  it  should  interest:  (a)  the  genetic  psy- 
chologist who  sees  in  the  present  the  promise  and  po- 
tency of  the  future;  (b)  the  teacher,  whose  life  is  spent 
in  preparing  the  young  for  citizenship  and  social 
service.  (2)  It  is  a  period  of  preparation  for  the 
religious  'life;'  and  therefore  it  has  analogies  to  those 
features  of  adjustment  that  may  be  attractive  to  the 
biologist  in  his  study  of  organic  life.  (3)  It  is  a  prep- 
aration for  the  'religious'  life.  As  such  it  is  of  interest : 
(a)  to  the  theologian,  who  makes  a  careful  study  of  the 
virtues  that  characterize  the  religious  orders;  (b)  to 
the  Christian  who  looks  upon  the  religious  orders  as  a 
special  manifestation  of  the  vitality  of  Christian  prin- 
ciples; (c)  to  the  philosopher,  who  sees  in  Christianity 
the  realization  of  a  new  form  of  universality;  viz.,  the 
brotherhood  of  all  men,  as  a  corollary  of  the  father- 
hood of  God,  the  great  truth  taught  by  both  the  Old 
and  the  New  Testament. 

To  the  novice  himself  the  order  proposes  a  new  ideal 
for  his  personal  realization ;  viz.,  the  example  set  by  the 
Saviour  of  mankind  in  His  every  word  and  deed.  This 
ideal  is  constructive:  "Do  not  think  that  I  am  come  to 
destroy  the  law  or  the  prophets,"  said  the  Founder  of 
Christianity ;  "I  am  not  come  to  destroy  but  to  fulfill."  ^ 
It  is  prophylactic:  "He  that  shall  scandalize  one  of 
these  little  ones  that  believe  in  Me,  it  were  better  for 
him  that  a  millstone  should  be  hanged  about  his  neck, 
and  that  he  should  be  drowned  in  the  depth  of  the 


'Matt.  V,  17. 


38  The  ReligioTis  Novitiate. 

sea."  ^  It  IS  remedial.  This  is  shown  by  the  parables 
of  the  good  Samaritan,^  the  lost  sheep,  and  the  prodigal 
son.^  It  is  inspiring:  "Come  to  Me,  all  you  that  labor 
and  are  burdened,  and  I  will  refresh  you."  *  It  is  su- 
preme: "Be  you  therefore  perfect,  as  also  your  heav- 
enly Father  is  perfect."  ^  "Seek  ye  therefore  first  the 
kingdom  of  God  and  His  justice."  ^ 

Looking  at  the  novitiate  in  another  way,  we  may  say 
that  it  purposes  to  make  a  perfect  novice  of  each  can- 
didate who  is  received ;  that  is,  it  aims  to  develop  in  him 
both  persistent  longings  and  consistent  efforts  to  repro- 
duce in  himself  the  life  of  Christ.  With  this  end  in 
view,  it  supplies  him  with  special  means  to  broaden, 
deepen,  and  strengthen  his  Christian  faith,  that  he  may 
the  better  appreciate,  (1)  his  position  as  a  creature 
and  the  duties  that  bind  him  in  consequence;  and  (S) 
his  privileges  and  responsibilities  as  a  human  being,  as 
a  Christian,  as  a  religious.  We  shall  briefly  consider 
these  topics. 

1.  Both  reason  and  experience  tell  man  that  he  is 
dependent.  It  is  indeed  in  virtue  of  this  state  that  his 
education  is  at  once  possible  and  necessary.  But  Chris- 
tian faith  assures  him  in  no  uncertain  voice  that  his 
dependency  has  a  mark  of  nobility : 


*  Matt,  xviii,  6. 
«Luke  X,  30-37. 
'  Luke  XV. 
*Matt.  xi,  28. 

•  Matt.  V,  48. 

« Matt,  vi,  33. 


The  Nature  and  Aim  of  the  Novitiate.         39 

"we  come 
From  God,  who  is  our  home." 

Although  man  must  rely  upon  his  fellow-creatures  of 
the  mineral,  the  vegetable,  and  the  animal  kingdom, 
which  minister  in  a  thousand  ways  to  his  many  wants ; 
yet,  as  embodying  in  himself  all  their  perfections,  but 
in  a  more  excellent  way,  and  as  possessing  the  attribute 
of  reason,  he  becomes  their  representative  and  there- 
fore, in  their  name  as  well  as  in  his  own,  he  owes  their 
common  Lord  and  Master  the  tribute  of  service.  The 
novitiate,  therefore,  seeks  first  of  all  to  revive  in  the 
mind  of  the  novice  a  keen  sense  of  his  position  as  crea- 
ture. It  reminds  him  that  he  must  have  "the  conduct 
and  the  virtues  befitting  a  creature.  .  .  .  He  must 
be  made  up  of  fear,  of  obedience,  of  submission,  of  hu- 
mility, of  prayer,  of  repentance,  and,  above  all,  of  love." 
It  endeavors  to  impress  upon  him  the  great  truth  that 
"the  only  knowledge  worth  much  of  his  time  and  trouble, 
the  only  science  which  will  last  with  him  and  stand  him 
in  good  stead,  consists  in  his  study  of  the  character  of 
God.  He  received  everything  from  God.  He  belongs  to 
him."  It  labors  to  produce  in  him  a  living  conviction 
that  "God  must  be  equally  the  object  of  his  moral  con- 
duct. God  must  have  his  whole  heart  as  well  as  his 
whole  mind."  Day  by  day  therefore  the  novice  draws 
nearer  to  this  conclusion: 

"A  creature  means  *A11  for  God.'  Holiness  is  an  unselfing  [of] 
ourselves.  To  be  a  creature  is  to  have  an  intensified  sonship, 
whose  life  and  breath  and  being  are  nothing  but  the  fervors  of 
his  filial  love  taking  fire  on  his  Father's  bosom  in  the  pressure 
of  his  Father's  arms.  The  Sacred  Humanity  of  the  Eternal  Son, 
beaming  in  the  very  central  heart  of  the  Ever-blessed  Trinity — 


40  The  Religions  Novitiate. 

that    is    the    type,    the    meaning,    the    accomplishment    of    the 
creature."  ^ 

The  endeavor  to  live  up  to  his  obligations  as  creature 
ihakes  the  novice  a  better  man. 

%,  (a)  The  novitiate  recalls  to  him  the  lessons  of 
his  early  days.  It  reminds  him  that  he  is  possessed  of 
intelligence  and  that  he  should  direct  his  conduct  ac- 
cording to  right  reason.  Even  the  pagan  philosopher 
Aristotle  had  taught  as  much.^  If  all  men  are  bound 
to  practice  the  moral  virtues — prudence,  justice,  tem- 
perance and  fortitude — the  novice  ought  to  cultivate 
them  in  an  eminent  degree.  If  Professor  Thomdike's 
principle  of  selection  operates  in  favor  of  the  normal 
school  student,  it  operates  also  for  the  novice.  The 
novitiate  tells  him  that,  by  God's  merciful  providence, 
he  has  been  called  not  merely  into  existence  as  a  crea- 
ture, but  also  into  rational  being  as  a  man.  Both 
justice  and  gratitude  therefore  impose  on  him  the  duty 
of  aiming  to  develop  in  his  life  what  is  characteristic 
of  man  at  his  best. 

(b)  The  novice  is  not  merely  a  human  being;  he  is 
also  a  Christian  guided  by  the  light  of  divine  faith  and 
upheld  by  divine  grace.  He  might  indeed  have  been 
created  in  the  state  of  pure  nature,  endowed  with  all 
the  qualities  belonging  to  his  nature  as  man  and  with 
nothing  more.     He  could  then  be  subject  to  sickness 


^  Faber,  The  Creator  and  the  Creature,  pp.  67-69. 

^  Nicomachean  Ethics,  I,  6.  Cicero,  whom  Allies  (Formation  of 
Christendom,  Vol.  I,  pp.  144-155,  especially  pp.  152,  153)  selects 
as  the  representative  of  what  was  best  in  paganism,  repeats  these 
principles  in  De  Officiis  and  De  Finihus, 


The  Nature  and  Aim  of  the  Novitiate,         41 

and  suffering,  since  he  has  a  body;  to  darkness  of  in- 
tellect and  weakness  of  will,  for  he  has  a  soul ;  and  also 
to  death,  since  though  he  is  a  unitary  being,  he  is  yet 
compounded  of  spirit  and  matter.  Nor  in  this  state 
could  he  claim  integrity  of  nature  as  a  right.  The  body 
might  still  rebel  against  the  soul,  and  passion  rise  up 
against  reason.^ 

But  in  the  very  beginning  man  was  constituted  in  the 
supernatural  order,  in  the  state  of  innocence,  or  orig- 
inal justice.  He  was  thereby  raised  to  the  dignity  of 
adopted  son  of  God  Himself,  dowered  in  consequence 
with  the  theological  virtues  of  faith  and  hope  and  char- 
ity, enriched  with  the  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  pre- 
destined not  to  the  natural  happiness  of  which  Aristotle 
has  written,^  but  to  the  supernatural  felicity  of  seeing 
his  God  face  to  face  and  possessing  Him  forever.  In 
this  way  was  his  dignity  as  man  incomparably  broad- 
ened and  deepened.  It  is  therefore  a  principal  duty  of 
the  novitiate  to  instil  into  the  future  religious  the 
spirit  of  faith,  educating  him  to  take  God's  viewpoint 
of  the  things  of  life,  feeding  his  hope  on  motives  of 
faith,  and  making  the  principles  of  faith  the  very  soul 
of  his  charity.  As  creature,  the  novice  is  servant  of 
the  Most  High;  as  Christian,  he  is  adopted  son. 

(c)  The  principle  of  selection^  has  worked  to  a  much 
higher  degree  than  this  in  the  novice.  He  is  chosen 
even  from  among  Christians.     He  has  hearkened  to  the 


*  Faber,  op.  cit.,  pp.  43-46. 
'  Nicomachean  Ethics,  X,  7,  8. 
"  See  p.  5,  above. 


42  The  Religious  Novitiate. 

Master's  call:  "If  thou  wilt  be  perfect,  go  sell  what 
thou  hast,  and  give  to  the  poor,  and  thou  shalt  have 
treasure  in  heaven :  and  come,  follow  Me."  ^  To  insure 
the  development  of  the  three  theological  virtues,  faith, 
hope  and  charity,  and  the  keeping  of  the  ten  command- 
ments, he  is  preparing  to  surround  them  with  the  triple 
guard  of  the  three  Gospel  counsels:  poverty,  chastity 
and  obedience. 

The  religious  novitiate,  therefore,  after  laying  be- 
fore the  novice  his  state  and  his  duties  as  creature,  in- 
spires him  so  to  act  as  to  merit  the  triple  crown  of  vir- 
tuous deeds  befitting  the  man,  the  Christian,  and  the 
religious.  In  laboring  to  make  him  a  better  man,  it 
proposes  to  him  for  imitation  the  great  Christian  ideal 
not  merely  as  a  great  Teacher, — this  even  the  normal 
school  does^ — but  as  a  divine  Model  who  gives  special 
helps  to  those  who  strive  to  walk  in  His  footsteps. 
Furthermore,  to  guarantee  in  him  the  attainment  of  the 
Christian  ideal,  the  novitiate  bids  the  novice  walk  in 
the  more  excellent  way  of  religious  perfection.  Thus  is 
the  novice  doubly  guarded  against  the  moral  dangers 
to  which  even  the  normal  school  student  may  be  ex- 
posed, for  in  the  stress  and  strain  of  temptation  he  must 
withdraw  from  the  practice  not  only  of  the  Gospel  coun- 
sels but  also  of  the  Christian  law,  before  he  runs  counter 
to  the  dictates  that  emanate  solely  from  right  reason. 

To  sum  up,  we  may  say:  the  novitiate  aims  to  make 
of  the  novice  not  only  a  creature  imbued  with  loyalty 


^Matt.  xix,  21. 
*See  p.  10,  above. 


The  Curriculum  of  the  Novitiate.  43 

to  his  Creator,  but  also  an  honorable  man,  an  exemplary 
Christian,  an  intelligent  and  zealous  religious.  By  what 
means  can  this  be  effected?  The  answer  entails  a  con- 
sideration of  both  the  curriculum  and  the  method  of 
the  novitiate. 

Article  III, — The  Curriculum  of  the  Novitiate. 

What  we  here  designate  as  the  curriculum  is  better 
known  under  the  title  of  "spiritual  exercises."  The 
latter  term  is  happy  in  both  its  parts,  and  suggests 
kinship  with  the  supposedly  modem  theory  that  all  the 
information  imparted  in  school  should  become  func- 
tional in  the  pupil's  life.  From  the  earliest  days  in  the 
history  of  the  religious  orders  the  novice  has  learned 
by  doing.^  The  novitiate  has  consistently  endeavored 
to  make  the  "learning  process"  significant  and  valuable 
for  him  by  having  him  incorporate  its  lessons  into  his 
conduct.  In  the  language  of  modem  psychology,  the 
acquisition  of  the  learning  process  determines  his  "be- 
havior." ^ 

The  daily  exercises  of  the  novitiate  may  be  divided 
into  two  great  classes:  work  and  prayer;  the  one  em- 
ploying chiefly  the  activities  of  the  body;  the  other, 
those  of  the  soul.  Both  are  to  be  performed  in  com- 
mon; both  exert  a  socializing  influence. 

1.  Although  bodily  labor  was  not  unknown  to  the 
early  hermits  and  the  cenobites  of  the  East,  yet  St. 
Benedict  seems  to  have  been  the  first  great  religious 


'  Montalembert,  Monks  of  the  West,  Vol.  I,  pp.  331,  332. 
'  Cf .  Colvin  and  Bagley,  Human  Behavior,  Chaps.  I,  II. 


44  The  Religious  Novitiate. 

legislator  to  make  manual  or  literary  labor  of  strict 
obligation.  He  even  "regulated  minutely  every  hour 
of  the  day  according  to  the  seasons,  and  ordained  that, 
after  having  celebrated  the  praises  of  God  seven  times 
a  day,  seven  hours  a  day  should  be  given  to  manual 
labor,  and  two  hours  to  reading."  ^  The  tradition  of 
manual  labor  thus  early  formed  in  the  history  of  the 
religious  life  has  been  handed  down  to  our  own  day.  It 
is  the  remote  progenitor  of  modern  sensori-motor  train- 
ing in  school ;  and  notably  in  the  case  of  the  Benedictine 
Order,  it  has  been  productive  of  results  from  which  both 
the  agricultural  schools  and  the  schools  of  vocational 
training  of  our  own  day  may  well  take  lesson.^  The 
legislation  of  St.  Benedict  on  external  labor  served  a 
great  economic  as  well  as  Christian  purpose.  Long 
before  the  decline  of  the  Roman  empire,^  not  merely 
cultivation  of  the  soil,  but  all  the  industries,  in  fact 
everything  connected  with  manual  labor,  had  been  con- 
signed to  slaves.  In  consequence  of  this  association, 
both  manual  labor  and  industrial  efficiency  were  marked 
with  the  stigma  of  degradation.*  The  rule  of  St.  Bene- 
dict making  labor  by  hand  obligatory  on  all  members 
of  the  order,  whether  they  were  of  patrician  birth  or 
not,  was  the  first  organized  movement  to  restore  the 
Christian  ideal  after  the  barbarian  invasion  and  to  make 


*  Montalembert,  loc.  cit. 
=  Id.,  pp.  33-37. 

» Allies,  Formation  of  Christendom,  Vol.  I,  pp.  66-75 ;  Dolllnger, 
Heidenthum  und  Judenthum,  pp.  704-710. 

*  The  expression,  servile  works,  used  to  designate  works  for- 
bidden on  Sunday,  is  inherited  from  those  days. 


The  Cwrricvlum  of  the  Novitiate,  45 

the  material  civilization  of  Europe  possible.  St.  Augus- 
tine over  a  century  earlier  had  reminded  Christians  that 
the  law  of  labor  rests  on  man  as  man,  and  therefore  was 
binding  on  Adam  even  before  the  Fall.  A  penalty  of  the 
Fall  was  not  labor,  but  the  irksomeness  of  labor,  "the 
sweat  of  the  biow."  ^  Manual  labor  remains  an  integral 
part  of  novitiate  life. 

2.  There  is  another  tradition  which  the  novice  in- 
herits from  St.  Benedict,  if  not  from  St.  Augustine. 
This  is  study.  If  the  rule  of  manual  labor  brought  ma- 
terial prosperity  to  Europe,  that  of  study  spread 
spiritual  enh'ghtenment.^  Both  labor  and  study  the 
novice  is  taught  to  dignify  and  sanctify  by  the  spirit 
of  prayer  in  which  he  undertakes  them.  But  while  he  is 
to  study  even  truths  of  the  natural  order  ultimately 
from  the  viewpoint  of  divine  faith,  it  is  especially  to  the 
mastery  of  the  truths  of  Christian  revelation  that  he  is 
to  devote  his  time  and  energy.  To  him  and  to  his  fel- 
lows does  Scripture  say:  "By  grace  you  are  saved 
through  faith."  ^  Although  revealed  truth  cannot  be 
confined  within  the  limits  of  time  and  space,  yet  prac- 
tically its  tenets  may  be  grouped  under  two  heads :  God 
and  the  human  soul.  For  this  we  have  the  warrant  of 
St.  Augustine:  "It  is  God  and  my  soul  that  I  long  to 
know.  Nothing  more.?  Absolutely  nothing."  *  Hence 
it  is  that  Rudolf  Eucken  writes  of  him : 


^  De  Genesi  contra  Manicliaeos,  lib,  ii,  15. 
^  Montalembert,  op.  cit.,  pp.  33,  34,  331,  344. 
«Eph.  ii,  8. 

*  "Deum  et  animam  scire  cupio.     Nihilne  plus?     Nihil  omnino." 
— SoUloquia,  I,  2. 


46  The  Religious  Novitiate. 

"He  is  interested  not  so  much  in  the  world  as  in  the  action  of 
God  in  the  world,  and  particularly  upon  ourselves.  God  and  the 
soul:  these  are  the  only  objects  of  which  knowledge  is  needful; 
all  knowledge  becomes  ethico-religious  knowledge,  or  rather 
ethico-religious  conviction,  an  eager  faith  of  the  whole  man."  * 

Although  "the  whole  Church,  both  teachers  and 
taught,  is  permeated  by  his  sentiments,"  ^  yet  it  may 
be  well  to  cite  also  an  authority  nearer  our  own  day  in 
the  person  of  Cardinal  Newman.  Even  at  the  early  age 
of  fifteen,  he  too  was  absorbed  in  the  "thought  of  two 
and  two  only  absolute  and  luminously  self-evident  be- 
ings, myself  and  my  Creator."  ^  Therefore,  with  the 
example  before  him  of  two  such  great  minds,  differing 
so  widely  in  race,  heredity,  environment,  experience, 
and  education,  and  yet  agreeing  on  the  studies  that  so 
intimately  concern  his  own  life,  the  novice  need  enter- 
tain no  fear  that  his  curriculum  is  narrow  and  narrow- 
ing. 

Even  the  old  Greek  philosophers  acknowledged  the 
contrary  to  be  the  case;  for  although  their  knowl- 
edge of  God  was  vague,  halting,  and  blended  with  error, 
yet  the  study  of  man  they  held  to  be  liberalizing. 
Wherefore  they  called  man  the  microcosm — the  world 
in  miniature — an  epitome  of  the  macrocosm — the  world 
writ  large.  If  man  would  fully  understand  himself,  he 
must  study  the  world  about  him,  since  the  mineral,  vege- 


^  The  Problem  of  Human  Life  as  Viewed  by  the  Great  Thinkers 
from  Plato  to  the  Present  Time  (Die  Lebensanschauungen  der 
grossen  Denker)  tr.  W..  W.  S.  Hough  and  W.  R.  Boyce  Gibson, 
p.  224. 

"Eugene  Portali6,  Catholic  Encyclopedia,  "St.  Augustine." 

'  Apologia  pro  Vita  sua,  p.  4. 


The  Curricidum  of  the  Novitiate.  4*7 

*able,  and  animal  kingdoms  are  all  summarized  in  him. 
Then  from  a  consideration  of  the  created  world  both 
within  him  and  outside  him,  he  can  ascend  to  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  Creator  of  all. 

3.  Besides  labor  and  study,  and  far  more  important 
than  either,  is  the  duty  of  prayer.  Even  when  viewed 
in  its  merely  human  aspect,  its  cultural  and  socializing 
influence  on  the  novice  is  undeniable.  Rooted  as  it  is  in 
the  principles  of  divine  faith,  it  bears  rich  fruitage  of 
courage,  confidence,  generosity,  and  perseverance.  It 
transforms  the  life  of  the  novice.  Of  its  scope,  the 
Saviour  Himself  has  said:  "Whatsoever  you  shall  ask 
the  Father  in  My  name,  that  will  I  do ;  that  the  Father 
may  be  glorified  in  the  Son."  ^ 

Prayer  may  be  of  two  kinds :  public  and  private.  Pri- 
vate prayer  as  exemplified  in  individual  meditation,  will 
be  considered  under  the  topic  of  method.  Of  public 
prayer  two  great  acts  are  required  daily  in  the  novi- 
tiate. One  is  the  conventual  or  community  Mass,  at 
which  all  the  members  are  bound  to  assist.  It  is  the 
supreme  act  of  homage  offered  by  the  novitiate  to  the 
Lord  of  hosts.  At  this  Mass  the  novices  receive  holy 
communion,  for  the  decree  of  Pope  Pius  X  concerning 
Daily  Communion,^  applies  in  a  special  way  to  religious 
houses.  The  other  great  act  of  divine  praise  is  the 
public  recital,  in  the  name  of  the  Church,  of  the  Divine 
Office,  or,  as  is  the  case  in  many  congregations,  of  the 
Office  of  the  Most  Blessed  Virgin.     Both  the  Mass  and 


*John  xiv,   13. 

*  20  December,  1905, 


48  The  Religious  Novitiate. 

the  OfGce  are  acts  of  genuine  social  service.    Montalem- 
bert  writes  pertinently: 

"The  first  of  all  the  services  which  the  monks  have  conferred 
upon  Christian  society  was  that  of  praying — of  praying  much,  of 
praying  always  for  those  whose  prayers  were  evil  or  who  prayed 
not  at  all." 

And  these  prayers  were  highly  esteemed  by  the  faith- 
ful at  large: 

"Like  its  chiefs,  the  entire  mass  of  Christian  society,  during 
the  whole  period  of  the  middle  age,  showed  a  profound  confidence 
in  the  superior  and  invincible  power  of  monastic  prayer;  and  for 
this  reason  endowed  with  its  best  gifts  those  who  interceded  the 
best  for  it."  ^ 

If  the  flame  of  piety  is  to  burn  brightly,  it  must  be 
fed  assiduously.  According  to  the  mind  of  St.  Thomas, 
"study  especially  of  Holy  Scripture,  peculiarly  befits 
men  consecrated  to  a  life  of  contemplation."  ^  It  re- 
veals to  them,  particularly  in  the  pages  of  the  New 
Testament,  the  perfection  for  which  they  should  strive. 
Hence  they  should  bring  to  it  an  attitude  of  mind  and  a 
disposition  of  heart  appropriate  to  their  state  of  life. 

"If  thou  didst  know  the  whole  Bible  outwardly,  and  the  sayings 
of  all  the  philosophers,  what  could  it  all  profit  thee  without 
charity  and  the  grace  of  God?"    .     .     . 

"He  that  would  fully  and  feelingly  understand  the  words  of 
Christ  must  study  to  conform  his  whole  life  to  that  of  Christ."' 

Two  books  are,  therefore,  specially  commended  to  the 
devout  and  attentive  perusal  of  the  novice.     The  first 


*0p.  cit,  pp.  24,  27. 

^  The  Religious  State  (tr.  Proctor),  p.  160. 

» Imitation^  Bk.  I,  Chap.  I,  3,  2. 


The  Curriculum  of  the  Novitiate.  49 

is  Holy  Scripture,  particulariy  the  New  Testament,  as 
containing  his  great  rule  of  life.  The  second  is  the  Imi- 
tation of  Christ  as  helping  him  to  acquire  the  spirit  in 
which  Scripture  should  be  studied. 

"The  philosophy  of  *The  Imitation'  may  be  summed  up  in  two 
words.  It  is  a  philosophy  of  Light  and  a  philosophy  of  Life: 
the  Light  of  Truth  and  the  Life  of  Grace.  Both  the  one  and  the 
other  a  Kempis  seeks  in  their  source  and  fountain-head.  He  does 
not  separate  them.  It  is  only  in  the  union  of  both  that  man 
attains  his  philosophic  ideal.  .  .  .  It  is  not  only  the  Light  of 
Truth;  it  is  also  the  Life  of  Grace.  This  life  consists  in  the 
practice  of  the  Christian  virtues;  the  practice  of  the  Christian 
virtues  leads  up  to  union  with  Christ,  and  union  with  Christ  is 
consummated  in  the  Holy  Eucharist."  ^ 

And  so  we  are  led  back  to  the  greatest  of  all  acts  of 
worship,  the  holy  sacrifice  of  the  Mass,  the  novice's 
great  model  of  immolation,  the  perennial  source  of  his 
self-denial  and  devotedness. 

Although  the  nature  and  the  duties  of  the  religious 
life  in  general  and  of  his  own  order  in  particular  must 
always  constitute  the  chief  study  of  the  novice,  yet,  by 
a  decree  of  27  August,  1910,  he  was  ordered  by  Pope 
Pius  X  to  give  several  hours  a  week  to  such  studies  as 
the  mother-tongue,  Latin  and  Greek,  the  reading  of  the 
Fathers  of  the  Church,  and  in  general  to  such  branches 
as  conformed  to  the  purpose  for  which  the  order  con- 
tinued to  exist. ^     In  this  way  he  not  only  relieves  the 


*  Brother  Azarias,  Phases  of  Thought  and  Criticism,  pp.  107, 
112. 

*The  decree  prescribes  private  study  for  an  hour  a  day  ex- 
cept on  feast  days,  and  lessons  of  one  hour  each  not  more  than 
three  times  a  week. 


50  The  Religioiis  Novitiate. 

mental  strain  incident  to  exclusively  spiritual  exercises, 
but  he  also  enables  his  superiors  to  judge  more  accu- 
rately of  his  talents  and  fitness  for  the  work  of  the 
order.  ^ 

Article  IV, — Method  in  the  Novitiate, 

As  both  curriculum  and  methods  agree  in  being 
means  for  the  attainment  of  the  educational  ideal,  it  is 
difficult  to  draw  a  hard  and  fast  line  between  them.  Nor 
is  this  necessary.  In  its  relation  to  the  novice  the 
method  employed  in  the  novitiate  bears  two  aspects: 
it  is  individual  and  it  is  social.  In  its  individual  char- 
acter it  is  exemplified  in  two  of  the  daily  exercises :  self- 
examination  and  meditation. 

I. — 1.  Self-examination  may  be  general  or  particu- 
lar ;  when  general,  it  may,  in  turn,  look  forward  or  back- 
ward. When  it  looks  forward,  it  is  called  the  examen 
of  forethought,  and  is  made  at  the  beginning  of  the 
day.  It  forecasts,  in  the  light  of  experience,  the  diffi- 
culties which  the  novice  is  likely  to  meet  during  the 
day  and  the  opportunities  which  he  may  have  of  doing 
good.  The  exercise  concludes  with  intelligent  and  prac- 
tical resolutions  as  to  the  means  to  be  used  that  very 
day  both  in  order  to  guard  against  relapsing  into 
habitual  faults  and  to  derive  greater  merit  from  the 
opportunities  for  practising  virtue.  When  the  exam- 
ination looks  backward,  it  is  directed  upon  the  actions 
of  the  day  that  is  closing,  and  is  followed  by  sincere 


^By  a  decree  of  19  March,  1603,  provision  was  made  for  suit- 
able recreation  in  all  novitiates. 


Method  m  the  Novitiate,  61 

sorrow  for  what  has  been  amiss  in  conduct  and  by  a 

firm  resolution  of  amendment.      How  profitable  these 

examinations  are  when  practised  rightly  and  persever- 

ingly,  appears  from  these  words  of  Thomas  a  Kempis  : 

"If  only  thy  heart  were  right,  then  every  created  thing  would 
be  to  thee  a  mirror  of  life  and  a  book  of  holy  teaching.  There 
is  no  creature  so  little  and  so  vile  that  it  showeth  not  forth  the 
goodness  of  God."^ 

In  other  words,  these  searchings  of  the  soul  are  well 
adapted  to  develop  that  spiritual  sense  in  the  exercise 
of  which  the  religious  should  excel. 

"Only  when  truth  and  goodness  walk  hand  in  hand,  and  the 
heart  grows  apace  with  the  intellect,  does  the  soul  develop  into 
strong,  healthy  action.  .  .  .  Now,  the  Spiritual  Sense  takes 
in  all  the  truth,  goodness,  and  beauty  of  both  the  natural  and 
revealed  orders  and  views  them  in  the  light  of  Faith."* 

Different  from  these  general  examinations  in  its  im- 
mediate purpose  is  the  particular  examen.  By  means 
of  this  exercise  the  novice  seeks  to  acquire:  (a)  sys- 
tematic knowledge  of  his  ruling  passion  and  of  the 
means  to  combat  it  effectually;  (b)  the  necessary  grace 
to  apply  these  means  courageously  and  perseveringly. 
He  keeps  before  him  the  admonition  of  Thomas  a 
Kempis : 

"As  our  purpose  is,  so  will  our  progress  be;  and  there  is  need 
of  much  diligence  for  him  that  wisheth  to  advance  much. 
.  .  .  The  resolutions  of  the  just  depend  rather  on  the  grace  of 
God  than  on  their  own  wisdom;  and  they  always,  whatever  they 
take  in  hand,  put  their  trust  in  Him."' 


^Imitation,  Bk.  II,  Chap.  IV,  1. 

'Brother  Azarias,  op.  cit.,  p.  4. 

Imitation,  Bk.  I,  Chap.  XIX,  2. 


62  The  Religions  Novitiate. 

Even  when  the  task  is  tedious  and  the  progress  slow, 
he  does  not  despond.     He  recalls  these  other  words: 

"If  every  year  we  rooted  out  one  fault,  we  should  soon  become 
perfect  men."  ^ 

But  the  function  of  the  particular  examen  is  not 
purely  destructive;  it  is  also  constructive.  Were  the 
novice  merely  to  refrain  from  evil,  he  would  fulfil  but 
a  small  portion  of  his  duty.  He  must  learn  more  com- 
pletely the  lesson  conveyed  by  the  parable  of  the  talents. 
He  must  take  to  heart  these  words  from  the  homily  of 
St.  John  Chrysostom:^ 

"He  that  hath  a  gift  of  word  and  teaching  to  profit  thereby, 
and  useth  it  not,  will  lose  the  gift  also;  but  he  that  giveth 
diligence  will  gain  to  himself  the  gift  in  more  abundance,  even 
as  the  other  loseth  what  he  hath  received.  But  not  to  this  is  the 
penalty  limited  for  him  that  is  slothful,  but  even  intolerable  is 
the  punishment,  and  with  the  punishment  the  sentence,  which  is 
full  of  a  heavy  accusation.  For  *cast  j^e,'  saith  He,  *the  unprofit- 
able servant  into  outer  darkness;  there  shall  be  weeping  and 
gnashing  of  teeth.'  Seest  thou  how  not  only  the  spoiler  and  the 
covetous,  nor  only  the  doer  of  the  evil  things,  but  also  he  that 
doeth  not  good  things,  is  punished  with  extreme  punishment? 
.  .  .  The  talents  here  are  each  person's  ability.  .  .  .  For 
this  purpose  God  gave  us  speech,  and  hands  and  feet  and 
strength  of  body,  and  mind,  and  understanding,  that  we  might 
use  all  these  things,  both  for  our  own  salvation  and  our  neigh- 
bor's advantage."^ 

Self-examination,  therefore,  whether  general  or  par- 
ticular, is  prescribed  for  the  novice  as  a  condition  of 
self-mastery.     In  virtue  of  our  common  human  nature. 


'  Id.,  Chap.  XI,  6. 
2  Matt.  XXV,  24-30. 

'  Homily  78,  Vol.  X,  Select  Library  of  Nicene  and  Post-Nicene 
Fathers,  pp.  470-472. 


Method  m  the  Novitiate,  53 

however,  it  becomes,  as  an  exercise  of  introspection,  a 
key  to  the  understanding  of  others  and  thereby  to  their 
direction  in  the  way  of  virtue.  In  his  o^vn  measure  and 
degree,  as  he  is  faithful  to  the  lessons  of  the  Imitation 
will  the  novice  verify  in  his  own  person^  this  estimate 
pronounced  on  its  author: 

"He  probed  the  human  heart  to  its  lowest  depths  and  its  inmost 
folds;  he  searched  intentions  and  motives  and  found  self  lurking 
in  the  purest;  he  explored  the  windings  of  human  folly  and  human 
misery  and  discovered  them  to  proceed  from  self-love  and  self- 
gratification.  But  this  author  does  not  simply  lay  bare  the  sores 
and  wounds  of  poor  bleeding  human  nature.  He  also  prescribes 
the  remedy.  And  none  need  go  away  unhelped.  For  the  footsore 
who  are  weary  with  treading  the  sharp  stones  and  piercing  thorns 
on  the  highways  and  by-ways  of  life;  for  the  heart  aching  with 
pain  and  disappointment  and  crushed  with  a  weight  of  tribula- 
tions; for  the  intellect  parched  with  thirsting  after  the  fountain 
of  true  knowledge;  for  the  soul  living  in  aridity  and  dryness  of 
spirit;  for  the  sinner  immersed  in  the  mire  of  sin  and  iniquity, 
and  the  saint  earnestly  toiling  up  the  hill  of  perfection — for  all 
he  prescribes  a  balm  that  heals,  and  to  all  does  he  show  the  road 
that  leads  to  the  Life  and  the  Light."  ^ 

2,  There  is  another  daily  exercise  of  the  novice  that 
emphasizes  the  individual  aspect  of  the  method  used  in 
the  novitiate.  This  is  meditation,  or  mental  prayer — 
Si  sustained  interior  exercise  in  which  the  soul  applies 
itself  to  God.  Its  subject-matter  includes  all  the  truths 
of  divine  faith;  all  the  virtues  becoming  the  man,  the 
Christian,  and  the  religious;  all  the  maxims  taught  by 
our  Lord  in  the  Gospel.  This  is,  so  to  say,  the  curric- 
ulum of  meditation.    Its  aim  is  first  the  sincere  amend- 


^  Cf .  Baldwin,  The  Individual  and  Society,  pp.  14-18;  23-26, 
^Brother  Azarias,  op.  cit.,  pp.  123,  124?. 


64  The  Religiows  Novitiate. 

ment  of  the  life  of  the  novice,  and  then  the  complete  re- 
formation of  his  character  after  the  model  set  by  Jesus 
Christ.  Its  spirit  is  therefore  the  spirit  of  the  Saviour, 
the  spirit  of  faith;  for  Scripture  assures  us  that  *'the 
just  man  liveth  by  faith."  ^  In  its  method  it  either 
directly  or  indirectly  utilizes  all  the  powers  of  the  mind. 
We  should  then  a  priori  be  inclined  to  look  upon  it  as  a 
great  means  of  mental  and  spiritual  development.  And 
such  it  really  is  when  entered  upon  with  due  preparation 
and  prosecuted  with  unwearying  diligence.  Prepara- 
tion for  it  is  both  proximate  and  remote.  The  remote 
preparation  consists  in  living  the  life  of  faith,  in  guid- 
ing one's  conduct  by  the  principles  of  the  Gospel;  the 
proximate  preparation  consists  in  acts  of  faith  in  God's 
presence.  For  this  purpose  "spiritual  reading"  is  most 
effective.  Besides  the  Bible  and  the  Imitation,  which  we 
have  already  mentioned,^  the  lives  of  the  saints  both  of 
the  Church  in  general  and  his  order  in  particular,  and 
treatises  on  the  virtues  of  the  Christian  and  the  religious 
life,  are  especially  recommended  to  the  novice.  But  he 
is  to  read  these  books  in  the  spirit  in  which  he  reads  the 
Office — reverently,  attentively,  piously  ('digne,  attente, 
devote').  Here  is  a  practical  exercise  in  apperception 
which  he  is  called  upon  to  perform  daily.  Lest  his  in- 
terest should  wane  or  his  affection  grow  slack,  he  is  to 
place  himself  in  a  sympathetic  attitude  when  he  begins 
to  read.  Every  teacher  will  appreciate  the  sound  psy- 
chology of  this  advice. 


^  Rom.  i,  17. 

'See  Art.  Ill,  "Curriculum  of  Novitiate." 


Method  m  the  Novitiate.  SB 

"Before  reading,  place  yourself  in  the  presence  of  God;  say 
some  short  prayer  to  obtain  light  to  understand,  and  grace  to 
practise  what  you  will  read.  Never  read  through  curiosity,  and 
do  not  read  hurriedly;  stop  occasionally  to  relish  your  reading; 
examine  what  prevents  you  from  practising  what  you  read.  Read 
your  spiritual  book  as  you  would  a  letter  sent  by  our  divine  Lord 
to  make  known  His  holy  will." 

It  IS  in  these  terms  that  St.  John  Baptist  de  la  Salle  ^ 
gives  counsel  to  each  of  his  religious.    Again  he  asks : 

"What  fruit  do  you  derive  therefrom?  What  difficulties  do 
you  experience?  What  obstacles  do  you  put  in  the  way?  .  .  . 
Carefully  distinguish  between  reading  for  purposes  of  study  and 
spiritual  reading,  and  see  whether  you  observe  the  distinction."* 

Why  this  insistence  on  the  method  of  spiritual  read- 
ing? Why  this  effort  to  awaken  interest.?  Because  it 
is  through  its  strong  appeal  to  the  emotions  that 
spiritual  reading  becomes  an  effective  aid  to  mental 
prayer.  The  whole  purpose  of  meditation  is  to  pro- 
mote the  ampler  development  of  the  spiritual  life.  Mere 
knowledge  of  revealed  truth  is  not  sufficient  to  attain 
this  end.  It  must  be  reinforced  by  strong  motives.  Pro- 
fessor Wundt  writes  :^ 

"Those  combinations  of  ideas  and  feelings,  which  in  our  sub- 
jective apprehension  of  the  volition  are  the  immediate  antecedents 
of  the  act,  are  called  motives  of  volition.  Every  motive  may  be 
divided  into  an  ideational  and  an  affective  component.  The  first 
we  may  call  the  moving  reason,  the  second  the  impelling  force 
of  action.  When  a  beast  of  prey  seizes  his  victim,  the  moving 
reason  is  the  sight  of  the  same,  the  impelling  force  may  be  either 


*  Collection  of  Short  Treatises,  p.  136. 

'Id.,  pp.  202,  203. 

"  Orundriss  der  Psychologie  (Outlines  of  Psychology),  tr.  C.  H. 
Judd,  pp.  186,  186. 


56  The  Religious  Novitiate. 

the  unpleasurable  feeling  of  hunger  or  the  race-hate  aroused  by 
the  sight.  The  reason  for  a  criminal  murder  may  be  theft, 
removal  of  an  enemy,  or  some  such  idea;  the  impelling  force  the 
feeling  of  want,  hate,  revenge,  or  envy." 

With  him  Cardinal  Newman  agrees  in  the  following 
passage,  which  further  suggests  how  meditation  can  be 
an  "interior  occupation": 

"Assent,  however  strong,  and  accorded  to  images  however  vivid, 
is  not  therefore  necessarily  practical.  Strictly  speaking,  it  is  not 
imagination  that  causes  action,  but  hope  and  fear,  likes  and  dis- 
likes, appetite,  passion,  affection,  the  stirrings  of  selfishness  and 
self-love.  What  imagination  does  for  us  is  to  find  a  means  of 
stimulating  those  motive  powers,  and  it  does  so  by  providing  a 
supply  of  objects  strong  enough  to  stimulate  them.  The  thought 
of  honor,  glory,  duty,  self-aggrandizement,  gain,  or  on  the  other 
hand  of  Divine  Goodness,  future  reward,  eternal  life,  per- 
severingly  dwelt  upon,  leads  us  along  a  course  of  action  corres- 
ponding to  itself,  but  only  in  case  there  be  that  in  our  minds 
which  is  congenial  to  it."  ^ 

Spiritual  reading  helps  to  furnish  thoughts  that  are 
"congenial"  to  the  divine  attributes.  Imagination  pic- 
tures their  concrete  setting  in  the  life  and  conduct  of 
our  Lord  while  on  earth.  We  thrill  with  gratitude  for 
His  loving  mercy,  with  sympathy  for  His  suffering, 
with  horror  for  sin  that  hounded  Him  to  death.  Medi- 
tation is  an  exercise  of  living  faith.  Such  faith  is,  ac- 
cording to  Cardinal  Newman,  a  twofold  experience.^ 

"It  is  an  imaginative  experience,  realizing  religious  truths  and 
picturing  them  with  precise  details.  It  is  an  affective  experience, 
vivifying  these  images  and  their  interior  perceptions  with  all  the 
sap  of  religious  sentiment.    Such  reasoning  as  there  is,  is  almost 


^  Orcmmar  of  Assent,  pp.  79,  80. 
« Id.,  Chap.  IX. 


Method  in  the  Novitiate.  67 

wholly  implicit  .  .  .  and  belongs  to  the  illative  sense,  ,  .  . 
Note  how  this  analysis  is  verified  exactly  in  the  spirit  of  faith 
and  in  the  active  piety  which  are  the  special  source  of  our 
religious  experiences.  Here  in  particular  we  discover  the  pro- 
found psychology  of  the  classic  procedures  of  Christian  mysticism 
as  also  of  its  exercises,  whether  individual  or  collective.  We  may 
regard  the  Manresan,  the  Sulpician  and  other  methods  of  medita- 
tion and  mental  prayer  as  methods  of  detailed  *realization'  of 
general  dogmas.^  This  reveals  to  view  the  whole  mechanism  and 
finality  of  the  *preludes/  the  'application  of  the  senses,'  and  of 
the  *afPections  and  resolutions.'  Nothing  is  easier  than  to  sketch 
here  appropriate  illustrations  from  the  'Grammar  of  Assent.' 
Take  the  celebrated  meditation  on  the  'Two  Standards.'  Express 
it  in  Newman's  terms.  First  'realize'  the  two  camps  with  their 
respective  captains,  their  activity,  etc.  This  is  an  imaginative 
experience.  After  this,  or  even  at  the  same  time,  try  to  'realize' 
the  anti-Christian  sentiments  of  anger  and  hatred,  the  Christian 
sentiments  of  love,  devotedness,  etc.  Apply  these  reflections  to 
yourself;  excite  yourself  to  charity,  self-denial,  etc.  This  gives 
affective  experience.  Personal  arguments  drawn  from  your  needs 
and  tendencies,  from  your  inmost  desires  of  salvation  and  sanc- 
tification,  strengthen  and  orientate  these  'realizations.'  The  con- 
clusion [resolution  of  the  meditation]  should  spring  from  this 
interior  activity:  it  cannot  fail  to  be  a  deeper  realization  of  the 
supernatural  life,  marked  at  present  by  acts  of  faith  and  love, 
and  by  protestations  of  fidelity,  in  which  all  your  powers 
co-operate;  and  guaranteed  for  the  future  by  strong  resolutions. 
From  beginning  to  end  you  are  occupied  with  the  dynamic  force 
of  'real'  assents."^ 

As  the  examens  are  daily  exercises  for  the  develop- 
ment of  self-mastery,  so  meditation  is  (a)  a  learning 
process  of  an  excellent  kind :  it  unfolds  the  inner  mean- 


*  See  also  St.  John  Baptist  de  la  Salle's  Explanation  of  the 
Method  of  Mental  Prayer. 

^E.  Baudin,  "La  philosophic  de  la  Foi  chez  Newman,"  Bevtie 
de  Philosophie  (Sept.,  1906),  pp.  262,  263.  "Real"  and  "realiza- 
tion" are  to  be  understood  in  the  sense  defined  by  Cardinal  New- 
man in  "Grammar  of  Assent." 


58  The  Religions  Novitiate. 

ing  of  the  truths  of  faith.  It  is  (b)  a  lesson  in  motiva- 
tion, since  it  prompts  the  novice  to  follow  the  example 
of  the  Great  Teacher.  It  is  (c)  a  habit-builder,  since 
it  trains  to  ways  of  righteousness  and  sanctity.  It  is 
(d)  a  valuable  exercise  in  thinking.  Professor  Dewey^ 
and  others  maintain  that  we  really  think  only  when  we 
have  a  definite  problem  to  solve,  for  which  our  ordinary 
habits  of  thinking  and  acting  prove  or  seem  inadequate. 
Now,  the  novice  finds  this  problem  set  him  in  medita- 
tion :  "Why  is  it  that  I  have  not  acted,  do  not  act,  as 
my  Saviour  and  the  saints  have  done  in  like  circum- 
stances ?  What  are  the  obstacles  ?  How  shall  I  remove 
them  ?    What  are  my  present  resources  ?" 

Viewed  in  its  individual  aspect,  the  method  of  the 
novitiate  is  a  dynamic  factor  in  forming  the  personality 
of  the  novice. 

II. — But  the  method  has  likewise  its  social  value. 

This  also  bears  a  two-fold  character.  The  novice 
comes  into  intimate  personal  relations  with  (1)  his  su- 
periors, and  (S)  his  fellow-novices. 

1.  The  novice  master  gives  him  instruction,  counsel, 
and  commands.  On  his  part  the  novice  is  bound  to  obey. 
By  his  entrance  into  the  novitiate  he  has  proclaimed  his 
desire  and  his  intention  to  renounce  material  goods  by 
the  vow  of  poverty,  to  perfect  his  control  over  his  body 
by  the  vow  of  chastity.  Throughout  all  the  period  of 
his  probation  he  must  be  exercised  in  obedience ;  for 
obedience  is  the  characteristic  vow  and  virtue  of  the 


^  Cf .  How  We  Think,  p.  205;  also  Colvin  and  Bagley,  op.  cit 
Chap.  II;  and  "Thought"  in  Monroe's  Cyclopedia  of  Education, 


The  Spirit  of  the  Novitiate.  69 

religious.  Without  obedience  no  solidarity  is  possible. 
Obedience  is  the  perfection  of  self-mastery.  It  is  the 
attribute  of  a  strong  man,  a  man  of  character.  Holy 
Writ  assures  us  that  its  practice  brings  victory.^ 

2.  The  social  life  of  the  novice  is  also  developed  by 
the  action  of  his  fellow- religious.  They  warn  him  char- 
itably of  his  defects;  this  is  the  exercise  of  "fraternal 
correction."  They  share  together  their  meals,  their 
recreations,  and  their  studies.  From  day  to  day  he 
finds  his  personal  views  and  desires  taking  on  the  color 
of  the  group  of  which  he  has  become  a  member.  He 
becomes  more  closely  identified  with  the  order  in  spirit 
and  aim  and  method.  The  very  change  of  name  which 
is  customary  in  many  orders  and  congregations  when 
the  novice  is  first  clothed  with  the  religious  habit  ^  is 
but  one  expression  of  this  community  of  sentiment. 
Like  the  first  Christians,  the  members  of  a  religious  in- 
stitute should  have  but  one  heart  and  one  soul.^ 

Article  V, — The  Spirit  of  the  Novitiate, 

Detachment  from  worldly  goods,  subjection  of  the 
flesh  to  the  spirit,  submission  of  the  will  to  lawful  au- 
thority, and  all  for  God's  sake — these  must  characterize 
the  true  novice.  What  is  the  principle  that  shall  give 
life  and  sustenance  to  these  virtues?  It  is  the  spirit  of 
faith,  as  revealed  in  the  New  Testament.  It  includes 
an  attitude  and  a  habit.    As  an  attitude  it  inspires  the 

'  Prov.  xxi,  28. 

'Cf.  Heimbucher,  op.  cit.  p.  21. 

•Acts  iv,  82. 


60  Th£  Religious  Novitiate. 

novice  to  look  at  all  things  from  God's  point  of  view 
as  clearly  expressed  in  the  Gospel  maxims.  As  a  habit 
it  has  an  active  and  a  passive  reference.  In  its  active 
aspect  it  prompts  the  novice  to  do  all  his  actions  to 
promote  God's  glory,  to  fulfill  the  divine  will.^  Taken 
in  its  passive  sense  it  inclines  him  to  accept  all  the  bless- 
ings and  the  ills  of  his  life  and  state  as  coming  directly 
or  indirectly  from  his  Creator.  Sustained  by  the  word 
of  Scripture :  "To  them  that  love  God,  all  things  work 
together  unto  good,"  ^  he  endeavors  to  advance  in  ways 
of  inward  peace  and  spiritual  joy.^ 

The  immediate  effect  of  this  spirit  of  faith  operating 
in  the  novice  is  a  quickening  of  his  desire  to  prepare 
worthily  for  his  profession  as  a  religious.  If,  as  Her- 
bert Spencer  maintained,*  education  is  "preparation  for 
complete  living,"  the  novitiate  must  train  the  novice 
for  complete  living  as  a  religious,  for  the  proper  fulfill- 
ment of  the  duties  imposed  by  the  "state  of  perfec- 
tion." ^  Self-examination  and  self-mastery  must  be  com- 
pleted by  self-realization.  This  can  be  accomplished 
only  through  sacrifice;  and  the  sacrifice  must  be  com- 
plete ;  it  must  be  a  holocaust.     To  this  end  three  means 


'  1  Cor.  X,  31. 

^Rom.   viii,  28. 

'  St.  John  Baptist  de  la  Salle  gives  his  Brothers  three  reasons 
for  acting  from  motives  of  faith:  1.  Because  actions  otherwise 
of  little  worth  are  thus  made  Christian;  2.  Because  this  is  the 
chief  means  of  sanctifying  them;  3.  Because  we  thus  participate 
in  the  dispositions  in  which  our  divine  Lord  performed  His 
actions. — Collection  of  Short   Treatises,  p.   117. 

^Education,  p.  30. 

»Cf.  St.  Thomas  (tr.  Procter),  The  Religious  State,  p.  3. 


The  Spirit  of  the  Novitiaie.  61 

are  indispensable,  according  to  St.  Thomas,  who  but  ex- 
presses in  this  matter  the  mind  of  the  Church. 

"The  things  to  be  first  given  up  are  those  least  closely  united 
to  ourselves.  Therefore,  the  renunciation  of  material  possessions, 
which  are  extrinsic  to  our  nature,  must  be  our  first  step  on  the 
road  to  perfection.  The  next  objects  to  be  sacrificed  will  be  those 
which  are  united  to  our  nature  by  a  certain  communion  and 
necessary  affinity.  .  .  .  Now,  amongst  all  relationships  the 
conjugal  tie  does,  more  than  any  other,  engross  men's  hearts. 
.  .  .  Hence,  they  who  are  aiming  at  perfection  must,  above 
all  things,  avoid  the  bond  of  marriage,  which,  in  a  pre-eminent 
degree,  entangles  men  in  earthly  concerns.  .  .  .  Therefore, 
the  second  means  whereby  a  man  may  be  more  free  to  devote 
himself  to  God,  and  to  cleave  more  perfectly  to  Him,  is  by  the 
observance  of  perpetual  chastity.  But  continence  possesses  the 
further  advantage  of  affording  a  peculiar  facility  to  the  acquire- 
ment of  perfection.  For  the  soul  is  hindered  in  its  free  access 
to  God  not  only  by  the  love  of  exterior  things,  but  much  more 
by  force  of  interior  passions."  ^ 

"It  is  not  only  necessary  for  the  perfection  of  charity  that  a 
man  should  sacrifice  his  exterior  possessions;  he  must  also,  in  a 
certain  sense,  relinquish  himself.  .  .  .  This  practice  of  salu- 
tary self-abnegation  and  charitable  self-hatred  is,  in  part,  neces- 
sary for  all  men  in  order  to  salvation,  and  is  partly  a  point  of 
perfection.  .  .  .  It  is  in  the  nature  of  divine  love  that  he  who 
loves  should  belong,  not  to  himself,  but  to  the  one  beloved.  It  is 
necessary,  therefore,  that  self-abnegation  and  self-hatred  be  pro- 
portionate to  the  degree  of  divine  love  existing  in  an  individual 
soul.  It  is  essential  to  salvation  that  a  man  should  love  God  to 
such  a  degree  as  to  make  Him  his  end,  and  to  do  nothing  which 
he  believes  to  be  opposed  to  the  Divine  love.  Consequently,  self- 
hatred  and  self-denial  are  necessary  for  salvation.  .  .  .  But 
in  order  to  attain  perfection,  we  must  further,  for  the  love  of 
God,  sacrifice  what  we  might  lawfully  use,  in  order  thus  to  be 
more  free  to  devote  ourselves  to  Him.  It  follows,  therefore,  that 
self-hatred  and  self-denial  pertain  to  perfection.  .  .  .  Now, 
the  more  dearly  a  thing  is  loved  according  to  nature,  the  more 


'Op.  cit.,  pp.  26-28. 


62  Th£  Religious  Novitiate. 

perfect  it  is  to  despise  it  for  the  sake  of  Christ.  Nothing  is 
dearer  to  any  man  than  the  freedom  of  his  will.  .  .  .  Just, 
therefore,  as  a  person  who  relinquishes  his  wealth  and  leaves 
those  to  whom  he  is  bound  by  natural  ties,  denies  these  things 
and  persons;  so,  he  who  renounces  his  own  will,  which  makes  him 
master,  does  truly  deny  himself.  .  .  .  [Religious]  make  a 
complete  sacrifice  of  their  own  will  for  the  love  of  God,  submit- 
ting themselves  to  another  by  the  vow  of  obedience,  of  which 
virtue  Christ  has  given  as  a  sublime  example."  ^ 

Since  the  religious  life  is,  according  to  St.  Thomas, 
"the  state  of  perfection,"  those  who  profess  it  are  bound 
to  take  the  most  perfect  means  of  reaching  perfection. 
Hence  he  adds : 

"The  vow  which,  of  all  the  three  religious  vows,  belongs  most 
peculiarly  to  the  religious  life,  is  that  of  obedience.  .  .  .  Now, 
since  the  body  is  worth  more  than  material  goods,  the  vow  of 
chastity  is  superior  in  merit  to  that  of  poverty,  but  the  vow  of 
obedience  is  of  more  value  than  either  of  the  other  two.  .  .  . 
Again,  the  vow  of  obedience  is  more  universal  than  that  of  either 
poverty  or  chastity,  and  hence  it  includes  them  both."* 

Such,  then,  is  the  character  of  the  holocaust  which 
the  novice  is  preparing  to  offer.  And  just  as  the  work 
of  educating  the  child  joins  two  factors,  viz.,  his  native 
instincts,  on  the  one  hand,  and  proper  intellectual  and 
moral  development  on  the  other,  so  too  the  training  of 
the  novice  is  a  work  in  which  his  native  endowments  are 
corrected  and  refined  and  fructified  by  the  action  of 
divine  grace.  In  proportion  as  he  freely  and  fully  re- 
sponds to  his  vocation  does  he  advance  in  the  "way  of 
perfection." 

^Id.,  pp.  41-46. 
*  Id.,  pp.  51,  52. 


The  Spirit  of  the  Novitiate.  .  68 

"Just  as  in  genius  one  part  must  be  ascribed  to  the 
faculties  of  the  man  and  another  to  a  superior  element 
which  the  pagans  called  destiny,  but  Christians  would 
designate  by  the  name  of  vocation ;  so  sanctity  also  is 
made  up  of  two  elements  which,  although  they  compene- 
trate,  may  yet  be  distinguished ;  viz.,  the  call  of  God  and 
the  effort  of  man."  ^ 

To  strengthen  his  spirit  of  faith  together  with  its 
expression  in  the  spirit  of  sacrifice,  therefore,  the  novice 
makes  use  of  both  natural  and  supernatural  means.  He 
may  take  courage  from  the  words  of  the  great  Fara- 
day: 

"I  will  Hmply  express  my  strong  belief  that  that  point  of  self- 
education  which  consists  in  teaching  the  mind  to  resist  its  desires 
and  inclinations,  until  they  are  proved  to  be  right,  is  the  most 
important  of  all,  not  only  in  things  of  natural  philosophy,  but  in 
every  department  of  daily  life/*' 

A  like  thought  is  expressed  in  a  recent  work  of  peda- 
gogy- 

"No  conception  of  modern  [?]  pedagogy  is  truer  to  fact  or 
safer  in  principle  than  this,  that  the  vital  function  of  public 
schooling  is  to  raise  the  level  of  society  in  conduct  and  ideals. 
This  is  done,  primarily,  by  improving  the  individual  and  for  his 
individual  need;  but  for  the  common  good  also.'" 

The  novice,  therefore,  holds  fast  to  divine  faith, 
the  root  of  perfection.     He  gives  real  practical  assent 


^  P.  Chauvin,  O.  S.  B.,  Qu'est-ce  qu'un  Saint?  p.  23. 

*  Lecture  delivered  at  the  Royal  Institution  of  Great  Britain, 
"Observations  on  the  Education  of  the  Judgment,"  p.  205;  in 
The  Culture  Demanded  by  Modern  Life  (ed.  E.  L.  Youmans). 

"  Boone,  Science  of  Education,  p.  342. 


64  The  Religious  Novitiate. 

to  the  words  of  Cardinal  Newman:  "He  who  begins 
with  faith  will  end  in  unspotted  and  entire  holiness."  ^ 
Because  his  faith  is  living,  he  is  faithful  to  his  spiritual 
exercises,  especially  to  mental  prayer.  When  he  finds 
sacrifice  difficult,  he  recalls  the  Saviour's  promise:  "Be 
thou  faithful  until  death,  and  I  will  give  thee  the  crown 
of  life."  ^  He  becomes  daily  more  adept  in  the  great 
process  of  education;  viz.,  the  substitution  of  remote 
and  spiritual  ends,  for  those  which  are  present  and 
sensile.  He  thus  attains  to  a  fuller  perception  of  the 
real  values  of  life.  He  appreciates  these  words  uttered 
by  the  President  of  Bowdoin  College,  and  realizes  their 
truth  by  service  of  others  for  God's  sake: 

"You  can  never  be  placed  in  circumstances  so  unfavorable,  you 
can  never  be  brought  in  contact  with  a  person  so  mean  and 
hateful,  that  this  devotion  to  the  loving  will  of  God  as  applied 
to  those  circumstances  and  that  person  will  not  give  you  strength 
to  do  the  right,  true,  noble,  loving  act,  and  so  to  overcome  evil 
with  good."  ^ 

We  may  sum  up  this  article  in  the  following  conclu- 
sion: The  spirit  of  the  novitiate  is  the  spirit  of  faith. 
Its  effect  is  to  produce  a  spirit  of  diligent  preparation 
for  the  three  religious  vows,  poverty,  chastity,  and 
obedience.  Though  all  three  demand  sacrifice,  obedi- 
ence requires  complete  immolation  of  self.  It  is  there- 
fore the  crowning  act  of  devotion  to  God's  service.     It 


^  Plain  and  Parochial  Sermons,  Vol.  V,  p.  159. 
^Apoc.  ii,  10. 

•W.  DeWitt  Hyde,  The  College  Man  and  the  College  Woman, 
p.  147. 


The  Spirit  of  the  Novitiate.  65 

is  also,  according  to  the  teaching  of  the  Saviour  Him- 
self, the  indispensable  condition  of  a  fruitful  life. 

"Unless  the  grain  of  wheat  falling  into  the  ground  die,  itself 
remaineth  alone ;  but  if  it  die,  it  bringeth  forth  much  fruit."  ^ 

Moreover  the  novice  is  constantly  profiting  by  the 
good  example  of  his  associates.  The  natural  value  of 
such  a  stimulus  has  been  a  subject  of  study  for  many 
psychologists  and  sociologists  in  recent  years.  Thus 
Camille  Bos  writes : 

"A  man's  belief  is  not  merely  his  work;  it  is  also  in  part  deter- 
mined by  social  influence.  In  return,  when  once  this  belief  has 
been  established,  it  will  not  be  limited  in  its  effects  to  the  indi- 
vidual who  affirms  it;  it  will  also  react  upon  others.  .  .  .  This 
reinforcement  will  be  all  the  greater,  the  more  uniformity  of  belief 
there  is  among  the  individuals."^ 

With  increased  certitude  as  well  as  with  fresh  delight 
does  the  novice  turn  from  such  passages  to  the  pane- 
gyric of  divine  faith  which  he  reads  in  the  eleventh 
chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  As  the  one  God 
is  the  author  of  both  nature  and  grace,  and  "grace  pre- 
supposes nature,"  so  the  novice  entertains  no  doubt 
that  loyalty  to  the  principles  of  divine  faith  will  mul- 
tiply and  enrich  the  efficacy  of  even  human  faith.  With 
the  Apostles  he  prays  to  the  "Author  and  Finisher  of 
faith" '?     O  Lord,  "increase  our  faith."  * 


^John  xii,  24,  25. 

^  "I/a  Port6e  Sociale  de  la  Croyanc6,"  Revue  Philosophique,  Vol. 
XLVI,  p.  293. 
«  Heb.  xii,  2. 
*Luke  xvii,  6. 


66  The  Religiows  Novitiate, 

Article  VI. — Limitations  of  the  Novitiate, 

These  limitations  may  be  grouped  under  two  heads, 
although,  by  a  kind  of  spiritual  osmosis,  they  tend  to 
compenetrate ;  viz.,  such  as  are  predominantly  indi- 
vidual and  such  as  are  predominantly  social. 

1.  Such  limitations  as  concern  the  individual  novice 
may  affect  him  (a)  as  Christian,  (b)  as  candidate  for  a 
given  order. 

(a)  Only  Catholics  may  be  novices.  As  we  have  al- 
ready seen,  this  restriction  is,  according  to  the  admis- 
sion of  Camille  Bos,^  a  decided  advantage,  since  uni- 
formity of  faith  in  the  members  of  a  group  tends  nat- 
urally to  increase  the  efficiency  of  the  group.  More- 
over, if  a  postulant  were  to  be  notably  lacking  in  the 
Christian  spirit  or  in  an  earnest  will  to  acquire  it,  he 
would  be  manifestly  unfit  for  the  novitiate,  since  it  is 
the  function  of  the  novitiate  to  train  for  the  state  of 
"religious  perfection."  The  principle  of  development, 
which  plays  so  vital  a  part  in  the  educational  psy- 
chology of  our  age,  demands  now  as  ever  that  the  less 
perfect  precede  the  more  perfect.  The  postulant  must 
therefore  have  given  proof  of  his  firm  will  to  keep  the 
commandments  before  he  can  be  allowed  to  bind  himself 
to  the  observance  of  the  Gospel  counsels.  Our  Lord 
Himself  has  sanctioned  this  course.  It  was  only  after 
the  young  man  had  assured  Him  that  he  had  kept  all 
the  commandments  from  his  early  years,  that  the 
Saviour  said  to  him:    "If  thou  wilt  be  perfect,  go,  sell 


^  See  p.  65,  above. 


Limitations  of  the  Novitiate.  67 

what  thou  hast  and  give  to  the  poor  .  .  . ;  and  come, 
follow  Me."  ' 

(b)  Besides  these  general  conditions,  there  may  be 
others  arising  from  the  special  mission  of  the  order 
into  which  the  candidate  seeks  admission.  St.  Benedict 
Joseph  Labre  possessed  not  only  the  ordinary  virtues 
of  a  good  Christian,  but  many  of  the  traits  which  dis- 
tinguish the  saint  when  he  sought  entrance  into  the  re- 
ligious life.  But  though  his  holiness  was  beyond  ques- 
tion, the  superiors  deemed  him  an  unsuitable  subject. 
The  novice  must  be  capable  of  adjusting  himself  to 
the  life  and  the  work  of  the  order. 

2.  In  its  social  aspect  the  novitiate  calls  for  the 
"common  life,"  which,  says  Heimbucher,  "is  strictly 
prescribed  in  all  congregations."  ^  If  the  candidate 
shows  lack  of  adaptability  to  this  requirement,  he  is 
assumed  not  to  possess  a  religious  vocation.  By  the 
Normae  (regulations)  of  1901  the  Holy  See  reserves  to 
itself  the  right  of  dispensing  from  the  disability  of  age, 
a  candidate  under  fifteen  years  or  over  thirty,  who 
seeks  admission  to  the  novitiate  of  a  religious  'congre- 
gation.' This  restriction  has  bearings  that  are  both 
psychological  and  sociological.  Candidates  who  have 
not  attained  their  fifteenth  year  belong  to  the  early 
adolescent  period  and  often  lack  the  maturity  of  judg- 
ment requisite  in  a  novice;  while  those  who  are  over 


^Matt.  xix,  21. 

^  "Streng  ist  in  alien  Kongregationen  das  gemeinsame  Leben 
vorgeschrieben."  Op.  cit.,  p.  37.  On  the  eremitical  life,  see  Heim- 
bucher, op.  cit.,  pp.  41  ff. 


68  The  Religious  Novitiate. 

thirty  are  wanting  in  mental  plasticity  and  have  be- 
come "set"  in  their  ways.  They  have  passed  the  limit 
that  Professor  James  ^  fixed  for  "old  fogeyism."  The 
average  novice  must  break  old  habits  and  form  new 
ones.  He  is  counselled  to  make  a  general  confession  of 
the  sins  of  his  whole  life  soon  after  his  entrance  into 
the  novitiate.  Seeing  his  own  many  faults  and  failings 
as  contrasted  with  God's  generous  favors  to  liim,  he  is 
moved  to  profound  sorrow  for  all  that  is  evil  in  his 
past  life,  and  to  firm  resolutions  of  amendment.  This 
is  the  phenomenon  known  as  "conversion,"  ^  the  begin- 
ning of  the  novice's  "first  fervor."  Under  the  impulse 
of  deep  emotion  like  this,  together  with  the  remark- 
able change  in  his  environment,  old  habits  may  be  in- 
hibited with  relative  ease  by  the  substitution  of  the 
newer  and  nobler  activities  subserved  by  regular  ob- 
servance. 

On  its  sociological  side  this  restriction  as  to  age  is  a 
natural  precaution  to  secure  peace,  good-will,  and 
hearty  co-operation  among  the  novices — all  these  dis- 
positions being  correlative  in  the  order  of  nature  to 
the  operation  of  divine  charity  in  the  realm  of  grace. 

But  the  social  aspect  of  the  novitiate  is  expressed 
also  in  the  formal  acceptance  of  the  candidate  by  the 
order;  for  this  act  is  a  contract  drawn  between  the 


^  Principles  of  Psychology,  Vol.  II,  p.  110.  See  also  Halleck, 
Education  of  the  Central  Nervous  System,  Chaps.  II,  III. 

^  Cf.  Starbuck,  Psychology  of  Religious  Experience,  Chaps. 
II-XIII.  Cf.  H.  Bremond  (tr.  H.  C.  Corrance),  The  Mystery  of 
Newman,  pp.  177-195.  The  "Confessions"  of  St.  Augustine  is 
classic. 


Limitations  of  the  Novitiate.  6& 

novice  and  his  religious  superiors  as  representing  the 
order.  It  entails  on  the  novice  the  subordination  of 
his  ideals  and  purposes  to  those  for  which  his  society 
lives  and  labors.  Hence  it  is  that  he  is  now  limited,  or 
his  activity  is  defined,  by  the  aim,  the  curriculum,  the 
method,  and  the  spirit  of  the  order  whose  novitiate 
he  has  entered.  According  to  a  decree  of  the  Council 
of  Trent,  the  novitiate  must  last  for  a  minimum  period 
of  one  year,  which  may,  however,  be  extended  to  two 
or  three  years.  By  fixing  the  minimum  age  of  religious 
profession  at  sixteen,  the  same  Council  virtually  placed 
the  age  requirement  for  the  admission  of  a  novice  to 
an  'order'  at  fifteen  or  at  fourteen  years. 

3.  (a)  The  limitations  of  the  novitiate  may  be  con- 
sidered also  with  reference  to  some  of  the  great  aims 
proposed  for  the  educative  process.  Prominent  among 
these  is  knowledge.  The  knowledge  required  for  ad- 
mission to  the  novitiate  is  first,  all  that  is  required  by 
the  profession  of  the  Christian  faith  or  is  in  consonance 
with  that  profession.  In  the  next  place,  it  is  deter- 
mined by  the  special  works  of  charity  for  one's  neigh- 
bor which  constitute  the  peculiar  function  of  the  order. 
Aptness  to  acquire  the  necessary  knowledge  is  a  quali- 
fication which  every  candidate  must  possess. 

(b)  Moral  development,  or  good  character,  we  have 
seen  to  be  a  fundamental  requirement  in  every  teacher, 
in  every  normal  school  student.  It  is  doubly  requisite 
in  the  novice,  since  he  is  preparing  to  embrace  a  life 
of  perfection.  Were  he  to  lack  this  qualification  he 
could  not  be  even  a  good  Christian.     Herbart  went  so 


70  The  Religious  Novitiate, 

far  as  to  maintain  that  the  "term  virtue  expressed  the 
whole  function  of  education."  ^ 

(c)  To  be  equipped  to  labor  with  great  effectiveness 
for  souls,  the  novice  needs  that  social  grace  which  we 
call  "culture."  For  entrance  into  the  novitiate  this 
is  not  indeed  indispensable.  By  cherishing  fidelity  to 
the  religious  exercises  and  by  developing  that  spirit  of 
faith  which  reveals  to  him  in  every  neighbor  a  member 
of  Christ's  mystical  body,  the  novice  will  acquire  a 
real  vital  culture.  For  true  culture  is  not  merely  "ac- 
quaintance with  the  best  that  has  been  known  and  said," 
as  Matthew  Arnold  thought,  nor  even  "the  disinter- 
ested endeavor  after  man's  perfection,"  as  he  also  sur- 
mised.^ It  includes  also  that  special  charm  which  comes 
from  possessing  the  spirit  of  Him  who  drew  all  things 
to  Himself.^ 

4.  To  certain  minds  the  most  serious  limitations  of 
the  novitiate,  arise  from  the  vows  of  religion  for  which 
the  novitiate  prepares.  Rosenkranz  *  goes  so  far  as  to 
charge  those  who  make  such  vows  with  going  directly 
counter  to  the  religion  which  they  profess : 

"Christian  monachism  ...  in  merely  renouncing  the  world 
by  the  three  religious  vows  instead  of  conquering  it  and  gaining 


^  Lange  and  De  Garmo,  Herhart's  Outlines  of  Educational 
Doctrine,  p.   17. 

^Culture  and  Anarchy,  Preface,  p.  xxxiv. 

'John  xii,  32.  See  also  Newman's  "Idea  of  a  Saint"  in  Dis- 
courses Addressed  to  Mixed  Congregations,  pp.  94,  95;  Dr.  Shields, 
Psychology  of  Education,  Lesson  XXIV. 

*  Philosophy  of  Education  (tr.  A.  C.  Brackett),  p.  264;  Inter- 
national Science  Series. 


Limitations  of  the  Novitiate.  71 

possession  of  it,    .    .    .    contradicts  the  very  principle  of  Chris- 
tianity." 

Is  this  indictment  true?  Let  us  weigh  the  testimony 
of  an  acknowledged  authority: 

"The  full  and  permanent  resignation  of  that  which  for  the 
majority  of  men  makes  life  desirable,  has  a  power  of  attraction 
only  for  the  rarest  natures,  and  for  this  very  reason  the  ascetic 
type  will  never  lose  its  honorable  position  among  the  people,  but 
will  be  newly  produced  and  newly  honored  in  every  age;  and  it 
is  not  the  most  enlightened  but  the  darkest  ages  of  history  in 
which  men  so  forget  their  own  deeply  hidden  yearning  for 
spiritual  freedom  that  they  fail  to  recognize  those  who  overcome 
the  world  as  social  assets  of  the  first  rank.  .  .  .  The  radicalism 
and  individualism  of  our  age  has  not  the  faintest  idea  how  deeply 
all  the  victories  of  personal  freedom  over  the  omnipotence  of  the 
State,  or  the  so-called  rights  of  men,  are  linked  up  with  this  much 
scorned  retirement  from  the  world,  which  has  brought  personality 
to  its  highest  concentration  and  raised  spiritual  life  above  all 
other  aims.  It  was  doubtless  the  fervor  and  intensity  with  which 
whole  groups  of  individuals  left  domestic  and  social  life  in  order 
to  come  entirely  to  themselves,  which  first  made  men  conscious,  in 
the  most  impressive  manner,  that  man  has  a  right  to  himself — 
that  there  is  a  holiness  of  inner  life  and  effort,  in  which  society 
and  the  State  have  no  right  to  interfere.  .  .  .  Thus  these 
ascetic  institutions,  on  closer  study,  reveal  themselves  as  a  most 
powerful  support  for  everything  which  one  may  call  character, 
and  a  pillar  of  that  great  and  true  resistance  to  all  that  is  merely 
tangible  and  useful,  upon  which,  ultimately,  everything  depends 
which  makes  life  worth  living  and  lends  men  real  power  over 
material  things."  ^ 

There  is  the  great  law  of  charity  formulated  by  our 
Saviour:  "I  give  you  a  new  commandment  that  you 
love  one  another  as  I  have  loved  you,"  ^  illustrated  in 


*  Foerster,  Marriage  and  the  Sex  Problem,  pp.  142-145. 
^John  xiii,  34. 


72  The  Religious  Novitiate, 

the  parable  of  the  Good  Samaritan,^  confirmed  by 
divine  example,^  and  sanctioned  by  the  sentence  which 
the  great  Judge  is  to  pronounce  on  the  last  day.^ 

A  more  violent  attack  than  that  of  Professor  Rosen- 
kranz  comes  from  Sir  Francis  Galton.*  It  is  directed 
against  a  doctrine  taught  explicitly  and  emphatically 
by  Christ  Himself,  a  doctrine  that  is  fundamental  in 
the  religious  life: 

"The  long  period  of  the  dark  ages  under  which  Europe  has 
lain  is  due,  I  believe  in  a  very  considerable  degree,"  to  the 
celibacy  enjoined  by  religious  orders  on  their  votaries  [sic]. 
Whenever  a  man  or  a  woman  was  possessed  of  a  gentle  nature 
that  fitted  him  or  her  to  deeds  of  charity,  to  meditation,  to  litera- 
ture, or  to  art,  the  social  condition  of  the  time  was  such  that  they 
had  no  refuge  elsewhere  than  in  the  bosom  of  the  Church.  But 
the  Church  chose  [sic]  to  preach  and  exact  celibacy.  The  conse- 
quence was  that  these  gentle  natures  had  no  continuance,  and 
thus,  by  a  policy   so   singularly  unwise   and  suicidal  that   I   am 


^  Luke  X,  25-27. 

^John  xiii,  15. 

'  Matt.  XXV,  31-46. 

*  Hereditary  Genius,  pp.  357,  358.  Sir  Francis  Galton  is  the 
"father  of  modern  eugenics."  It  is  pertinent  to  recall  the  words 
of  the  late  T.  J.  Gerrard,  S.  J.  ("Eugenics,"  Vol.  XVI,  Catholic 
Encyclopedia) :  "The  root  difference  between  Catholic  teaching 
and  that  of  modern  eugenics  is  that  the  one  places  the  final  end 
of  man  in  eternal  life,  whilst  the  other  places  it  in  civic  worth. 
The  effectual  difference  is  that  the  Church  makes  bodily  and 
mental  culture  subservient  to  morality,  whilst  modern  eugenics 
makes  morality  subservient  to  bodily  and  mental  culture.  .  .  . 
Moreover,  since  the  most  necessary  and  most  difficult  eugenic 
reforms  consist  in  the  control  of  the  sex  appetite,  the  practice 
of  celibacy  is  an  important  factor  in  race  culture.  It  is  the  stand- 
ing example  of  a  Divinely  aided  will  holding  the  sensual  passion 
in  check." 

"  One  may  be  pardoned  for  dissenting  f roin  the  author's  punc- 
tuation here. 


Limitations  of  the  Novitiate.  73 

hardly  able  to  speak  of  it  without  impatience,  the  Church  brutal- 
ized the  breed  of  our  forefathers.  She  acted  precisely  as  if  she 
had  aimed  at  selecting  the  rudest  portion  of  the  community  to  be, 
alone,  the  parents  of  future  generations.  She  practised  the  arts 
which  breeders  would  use,  who  aimed  at  creating  ferocious,  cur- 
rish, and  stupid  natures.  No  wonder  Ihat  club-law  prevailed  over 
Europe;  the  wonder  rather  is  that  enough  good  remained  in  the 
veins  of  Europeans  to  enable  their  race  to  rise  ^  to  its  present 
very  moderate  level  of  natural  [sic]  morality." 

Were  these  words  to  be  taken  at  their  face  value,  edu- 
cation as  a  real  institution  of  society  would  be  impos- 
sible. It  would  exist  only  as  the  idle  dream  of  a  phi- 
losopher, if  indeed  a  philosopher  could  be  found  under 
such  conditions.  But  there  is  another  side  to  be  con- 
sidered. 

"Now,  the  noblest  works  for  the  good  of  others  in  which  man 
can  be  engaged  fall  under  these  three  classes:  that  of  maintain- 
ing and  propagating  religion;  that  of  forming  the  human  char- 
acter by  education;  that  of  administering  to  human  infirmities  by 
acts  of  mercy.  And  the  evidence  of  history,  by  induction  from 
many  times  and  countries,  is  this,  that  wherever  the  Virginal 
Life  does  not  exist  as  an  institution,  these  works,  if  pursued,  are 
only  pursued  as  a  profession.  They  may  be  followed  with  much 
zeal  and  ability,  and  even  with  considerable  success;  but  still  it 
will  be  as  a  means  of  livelihood,  not  for  the  sake  of  others,  but 
for  the  sake  of  self.  Remuneration  in  some  shape  will  be  their 
motive  power.  And  no  less  does  it  follow,  from  the  evidence  of 
history,  that  where  the  Virginal  Life  is  cultivated,  and  exhibits 
itself  in  various  institutions,  it  will  throw  itself  especially  upon 
these  three  classes  of  works.  The  dedication  and  sacrifice  which 
•lie  at  the  root  of  it  will  communicate  themselves  to  these  works, 
as  conducted  by  it,  will  give  to  them  a  high  and  superhuman 
character,  a  power  of  attraction  over  the  hearts  of  men,  which 


^  The  student  of  logic  may  find  it  difficult  to  conceive  how,  in 
view  of  Galton's  premises,  they  could  rise  at  all.  The  author  is 
covertly  admitting  the  influence  of  another  factor  than  heredity. 


74  The  Religious  Novitiate, 

come  from  that  divine  Original  of  sacrifice,  whose  signet  is  the 
Virginal  Life.  And  in  this  case  no  human  remuneration  will  be 
the  spring  of  these  works;  neither  praise,  nor  power,  nor  wealth, 
nor  pleasure  will  call  them  forth  or  reward  them.  Rather  they 
will  flourish  amid  poverty,  self-denial,  and  humility,  in  those  who 
exercise  them,  and  be  the  fruit  not  of  political  economy,  but  of 
charity."  ^ 

Even  Sir  Francis  Galton  seems  to  have  had  a  glimpse 

of  the  natural  aspect  of  this  truth,  for  he  confesses : 

"A  man  who  has  no  children  is  likely  to  do  more  for  his  profes- 
sion and  to  devote  himself  more  thoroughly  to  the  good  of  the 
public  than  if  he  had  them.  A  very  gifted  man  will  almost  always 
rise,  as  I  believe,  to  eminence;  but  if  he  is  handicapped  with  the 
weight  of  a  wife  and  children  in  the  race  of  life,  he  cannot  be 
expected  to  keep  as  much  in  the  front  as  if  he  were  single."^ 

Another  quotation  may  be  given  in  answer  to   the 
objection  raised  by  Rosenkranz: 

"A  great  Christian  writer,  who  stood  between  the  old  pagan 
world  and  the  new  society  which  was  taking  its  place,  and  who 
was  equally  familiar  with  both,  made,  near  the  end  of  the  fourth 
century,  the  following  observation:'  'The  Greeks  have  had  some 
men,  though  it  was  but  few,  among  them,  who,  by  force  of  phi- 
losophy, came  to  despise  riches;  and  some  too  who  could  control 
the  irascible  part  of  man;  but  the  flower  of  Virginity  was  nowhere 
to  be  found  among  them.  Here  they  always  gave  precedence  to 
us,  confessing  that  to  succeed  in  such  a  thing  was  to  be  superior 
to  nature  and  more  than  man.  Hence  their  profound  admiration 
for  the  whole  Christian  people.  The  Christian  host  derived  its 
chief  luster  from  this  portion  of  its  ranks.' "  * 


^  T.  W.  Allies,  op.  cit,  pp.  380,  381. 

2  Op.  cit.,  p.  330. 

^  St.  John  Chrysostom,  Vol.  XL VIII,  p.  533,  "De  Virginitate," 
Patrologia  Graeca.  The  translation  of  De  Virginitate  is  omitted 
from  "Select  Library  of  Nicene  and  Post-Nicene  Fathers."  See 
comment  in  American  Ecclesiastical  Review,  Vol.  XXIV,  p.  210 
(Feb.,  1901).  Cf.  T.  S.  Dolan,  The  See  of  Peter  and  the  Voice  of 
Antiquity. 

*  T.  W.  Allies,  op.  cit.,  pp.  381,  382. 


*    .  Summary,  75 

As  to  obedience,  it  will  suffice  to  note  that  the  realiza- 
tion of  the  highest  ideal  officially  proposed  to  the  public 
school,  viz.,  social  service,  is  impossible  without  respect 
for  lawfully  constituted  authority.  This  is  the  natural 
value  of  obedience.  Father  Faber  sketches  its  super- 
natural significance  in  the  following  words : 

"Monks  and  nuns  have  given  up  their  liberty  by  the  heroism  of 
the  vows.  .  .  .  Theirs  is  a  glorious  captivity,  in  which  super- 
natural charity  has  bound  them  hand  and  foot,  and  handed  them 
over  to  the  arms  of  their  Creator.  They  have  used  the  original 
liberty  He  gave  them  in  the  grandest  of  ways,  by  voluntarily  sur- 
rendering it."  * 

Article  VII. — Summari/, 

The  novitiate  is  a  period  (1)  of  preparation,  (2) 
for  the  "religious  life,"  which,  in  the  words  of  St. 
Thomas,  is  (3)  a  "state  of  perfection."  The  novice, 
by  appropriate  spiritual  exercises  of  prayer  and  self- 
denial,  as  also  by  acts  of  Christian  charity,  must  de- 
velop the  habits  that  become  him  as  (1)  creature,  (2) 
man,  (3)  Christian,  and  (4)  religious.  To  prepare  for 
his  "profession"  as  religious  he  practices  self-examina- 
tion and  seeks  by  mental  prayer  to  model  his  life  after 
that  of  his  divine  Exemplar.  In  proportion  as  he  be- 
comes more  thoroughly  imbued  with  the  principles  of 
the  religious  life  in  general  and  -with  the  aims  of  his 
own  order  in  particular  does  he  surrender  private  in- 
terests under  the  great  socializing  influence  of  Chris- 
tian charity,  the  flower  of  Christian  faith. 


^  The  Creator  and  the  Creature^  p.  38. 


CHAPTER    III. 


The  Personality  of  the  Teacher. 


Article  I, — What  is  Personality? 

The  thought  and  the  culture  of  the  modern  world 
are  deeply  indebted  to  the  Catholic  Church  for  pre- 
senting to  her  members  the  idea  of  personality  and  for 
demanding  of  them  conduct  befitting  their  dignity.  Of 
both  these  moral  elements — the  idea  and  its  expression 
in  behavior — had  the  pagan  world  lost  its  sense  long 
before  the  coming  of  Christianity.  The  result  was  in- 
evitably a  depolarization  of  man's  spiritual  life.^ 

"And  so  the  ignorance  which  divested  God  of  His  creative 
power,  by  the  same  stroke  divested  man  of  his  personality.  In 
Greek  and  Roman  philosophy  man  had  not  only  ceased  to  be  a 
creature,  being  conceived  either  as  an  emanation  of  the  world-soul 
eternally  transfused  through  material  forms  from  generation  to 
generation,  or  as  a  product  of  the  earth's  slime  warmed  into  life 
by  the  sun's  heat;  but  likewise,  emanation  or  production  as  he 
was  accounted  like  all  other  living  things,  he  could  hardly  in  his 
short  transit  through  the  world  be  held  to  have  a  personal  sub- 
sistence: or  if  this  be  allowed  him,  it  must  be  allowed  to  all  other 
livings  things,  and  at  the  same  time  was  deprived  of  all  moral 
value,  being  utterly  extinguished  at  death  by  resumption  into  the 
world-soul. 

"It  is  but  a  part  of  the  same  error  as  to  the  divine  nature,  that 
the  notion  of  a  divine  providence  observing  and  directing  the 
course  of  the  world,  rewarding  or  punishing  the  actions  of  men, 
had  likewise  been  lost."* 


^  See  also  above,  p.  44. 

»T.  W.  Allies,  op.  cit.,  pp.  87,  88. 

76 


What  is  Personality?  77 

With  the  concept  of  God's  personality  perished  also 
the  consciousness  of  man  as  a  person ;  for  man  is  made 
in  the  image  and  likeness  of  God/  When  paganism,  to 
use  the  words  of  Scripture,  "had  corrupted  its  way 
upon  the  earth,"  ^  it  proceeded  to  conceive  its  gods  in 
the  image  and  likeness  of  man.  With  such  a  lowering 
of  ideals  and  perversion  of  fundamental  relationships, 
true  progress  became  impossible.  Whenever  and  wher- 
ever, in  the  last  twenty  centuries,  like  conditions  have 
been  reproduced,  like  results  have  followed.  When  the 
mental  vision  of  God's  unity  and  personality  becomes 
darkened,  then  man's  worth  depreciates  in  the  estimate 
of  the  community.  So  it  comes  to  pass  that  in  the 
world  of  labor  he  is  no  longer  a  moral  agent ;  he  is 
merely  an  economic  factor.  Even  in  the  school  the 
child  ceases  to  be  a  concrete  intelligence  dowered  with 
the  promise  and  potency  of  undying  life;  he  is  rele- 
gated to  the  ranks  of  the  social  group  and,  in  so  far, 
is  only  one  of  many.  We  might  say,  then,  that  the 
history,  not  of  religion  only,  but  of  philosophy  also, 
has  "personality"  for  its  central  theme.  Consequently-^ 
no  system  of  education  can  be  right  in  its  conception 
or  genuinely  beneficial  in  its  application  unless  it  in- 
cludes a  correct  interpretation  of  personality. 

As  is  suggested  by  its  derivation,  the  term  'person'  ^ 


'  Gen.  i,  26. 

2  Ibid,  vi,  12. 

'  From  the  Latin  per  and  sonOj  sonare,  signifying  to  "sound"  or 
"utter  through,"  i.  e.,  through  the  opening  for  the  mouth.  It  was 
at  first  thought  that  these  masks  were  intended  simply  to  remind 
those  attending  the  play  that  the  actors  were  representing  other 


78  The  Personality  of  the  Teacher, 

primarily  designated  the  mask  worn  by  the  actors  in 
the  old  Greek  and  Roman  plays.  Then  it  came  to  sig- 
nify the  player  who  wore  the  mask.  Finally,  since  "all 
the  world's  a  stage,"  it  attained  its  present  meaning. 
It  is  a  matter  of  some  cultural  interest  to  note  that  in 
Chaucer's  day  the  priest  was  the  most  important  per- 
son in  the  community,  whence  he  was  called  the  "par- 
son." ^  From  the  Christian  viewpoint  it  is  still  true 
that  only  religion  as  the  guiding  principle  of  man's 
theory  and  practice,  can  develop  in  him  the  real  dig- 
nity of  personality.  The  nature  of  personality  St. 
Thomas  Aquinas  has  attempted  to  explain,^  and  to  his 
definition  we  now  turn. 

Taking  Boethius'  description  of  person  as  "an  indi- 
vidual substance  of  a  rational,"  or  intelligent,  "na- 
ture," he  expands  it  into  this  form:  A  "person"  is  "a 
complete  substance  having  an  intellectual  nature,  sub- 
sisting by  itself  and  apart  from  other  substances."  He 
designates  person  as  "substance"  to  distinguish  it  from 
"real  accident" ;  that  is,  from  a  mere  quality,  modifi- 
cation, or  process.  It  is  "complete,"  and  is  therefore 
different  from  either  man's  body  or  his  soul,  since  it  is 
superior  to  both.  In  the  case  of  man  it  is  actually 
"constituted"  by  the  "union  of  body  and  soul."  Be- 
cause it  "subsists  by  itself,"  it  is  ultimate  master  of  its 


characters  than  their  own,  that  they  were  impersonating  the 
dramatis  personw.  Subsequently  it  was  found  that  the  funnel- 
shaped  opening  for  the  mouth  helped  the  actor's  voice  to  carry 
to  a  greater  distance. 

^  "Parson"  is  only  a  variant,  in  pronunciation  as  in  spelling,  of 
the  original  "person."     See  also  Canterbury  Tales. 

^  SvmiTYia  Theologica,  III,  q.  16,  a.  2. 


What  Society  Expects.  79 

acts,  and  therefore  cannot  become  a  mere  component 
of  something  else.  The  phrase  "apart  from  other 
things"  is  used  especially  to  distinguish  the  real  con- 
crete person  from  the  'idea  of  person,'  which  applies 
not  to  a  determinant  individual,  but  to  each  and  every 
person  as  such. 

According  to  the  mind  of  St.  Thomas,  therefore, 
personality  includes  at  least  relative  completeness  of 
existence,  perfection  of  activity,  and  distinction  from 
others  even  of  the  same  kind.  It  is  a  significant  truth 
for  the  teacher  that  this  completeness  and  this  distinc- 
tion— this  development  and  this  individuality — can  be 
and  should  be,  to  a  great  extent,  the  work  of  education. 
Fortunately,  when  used  without  qualifying  epithets, 
the  term  still  possesses  an  honorable  connotation. 

Article  IL — What  Society  Expects. 

We  have  already  seen^  that  "an  ethical  aim,  spe- 
cialized knowledge,  and  technical  skill,"  together  with 
"culture,"  are  qualifications  which  every  teacher  should 
possess.  But  the  greatest  of  all  these  is  character.  It 
is  only  the  teacher  of  "character"  that  can  develop 
"character"  in  his  pupils.  Now,  genuine  social  service 
is  impossible  without  the  basic  equipment  of  good  char- 
acter. 

"To  live  according  to  nature,  to  follow  one's  own  inclinations 
and  interests,  ...  no  great  effort  is  needed.  ...  To  over- 
come nature  and  instead  to  prepare  for  a  life  of  ideals,  to  inhibit 
the  personal  desires  and  instead  to  learn  to  serve  the  higher  pur- 
poses, indeed  demands  most  serious  and  most  systematic  efforts. 


*  See  p.  8,  above. 


80  The  Personality  of  the  Teacher, 

"It  is  the  teacher's  task  to  make  these  efforts  with  all  his  best 
knowledge  of  mind  and  body,  of  social  and  of  cultural  values. 
Psychology  and  physiology,  sociology  and  the  subjects  taught 
have  to  furnish  him  with  the  equipment  for  his  great  calling,  but 
they  all  represent  only  the  means,  which  are  of  no  use  until  ethics 
has  shown  us  the  aims.  Those  means  the  teacher  must  master  by 
study  and  knowledge,  but  those  aims  he  must  hold  in  his  heart."  ^ 

Hence  Prof.  H.  H.  Schroeder  says  bluntly: 

"What  education  must  aim  at,  therefore,  is  the  building  up  of 
moral  character;  for  it  is  only  when  those  with  whom  we  come  in 
contact  are  possessed  of  such  character  that  our  interests  are 
assured,  as  far  as  concerns  our  social  environment."^ 

What  society  particularly  asks  of  both  teacher  and 
pupil,  what  it  demands  as  a  result  of  the  educative 
process,  is  social  efficiency.  This  has  been  defined  as 
"the  ability  to  enter  into  a  progressive  social  process 
and  do  one's  part  toward  advancing  the  interests  of 
the  whole,  while  at  the  same  time  attaining  the  highest 
degree  of  realization  of  the  self."  ^ 

"Efficient  participation  requires  knowledge  and  technique.  To 
be  a  good  citizen  of  the  state,  one  must  have  a  knowledge  of  the 
purpose  of  government,  of  the  machinery  of  his  own  government, 
and  the  nature  of  the  social  problems  confronting  the  state.  If  one 
is  to  stand  in  right  relations  to  the  school  and  do  his  part  as 
patron,  taxpayer,  or  official,  he  requires  a  comprehension  of  the 
nature  and  aim  of  education  and  a  knowledge  of  the  organization 


*  Muensterberg,  Psychology  and  the  Teacher,  pp.  76,  77.  Cf. 
Dr.  Adolf  Matthias,  Praktische  Pddagogik  filr  hohere  Lehran- 
stalten,  Bd.  II,  p.  11:  "Die  Personlichkeit  nur  gewinnen  kann, 
wenn  sie  ttichtig  in  der  Teknik  und  Methodik  des  Berufs  sich 
schult." 

*  The  Psychology  of  Conduct  Applied  to  the  Problem  of  Moral 
Education  in  the  Public  Schools,  p.  21. 

» Betts,  op.  cit.,  p.  245, 


What  Society  Expects,  81 

and  functions  of  the  school  as  the  instrument  of  education.  To 
enter  successfully  into  a  vocation,  whether  industrial,  professional, 
or  any  other,  the  individual  must  have  a  concept  of  the  place  of 
work  in  human  progress,  and  a  particular  knowledge  of  and 
technique  in  the  vocation  selected.  Or,  if  one  is  to  make  fruitful 
use  of  the  avocations,  he  must  see  the  relation  of  avocations  to 
development  and  efficiency,  and  learn  the  technique  of  the  avoca- 
tions chosen."  ^ 

Yet  although  efficiency  demands  both  knowledge  and 
technical  skill,  what  it  really  accomplishes  will  depend 
chiefly  on  "character,"  for  character  shares  its  own 
force  with  the  other  factors.^ 

"The  power  of  an  intense  purpose  to  heighten  the  intellectual 
insight  not  only  operates  on  the  teacher,  but  also  on  those  taught. 
.  .  .  The  first  requisite  is  a  supervisor  whose  soul  is  inspired 
with  the  sacredness  of  life.  ...  In  the  replies  of  fifty-five  col- 
lege presidents  and  representative  men  to  the  question:  'What  is 
the  Best  Thing  College  Does  for  a  Man?'  influence  of  personality 
everywhere  predominates." ' 

One  who  has  done  great  service  for  mankind,  Karl 
von  Baer,  can  therefore  say  with  authority: 

"What  a  man  accomplishes  in  the  course  of  his  life  depends 
mainly  upon  his  character — more  upon  what  he  is  than  what  he 
does."  *• 

The  reason  is  given  by  Professor  Swift: 


^  Ibid.,  p.  246. 

^  Cf .  the  Scholastic  axiom,  "Bonum  est  diffusivum  sui;"  also  the 
Catechism  of  the  Council  of  Trent  (Art.  I,  of  the  Creed) :  "God 
was  impelled  to  create  from  no  other  motive  than  a  desire  to 
impart  to  creatures  the  riches  of  His  bounty." 

"  D.  E.  Phillips,  "The  Teaching  Interest,"  in  Pedagogical  Semi- 
nary, Vol.  VI,  p.  242. 

*  Quoted  in  Miall's  Thirty  Years  of  Teaching,  p.  182. 


83  The  Personality  of  the  Teacher, 

"Character,  which  is  only  another  name  for  the  established  will, 
is  formed  through  ideals  which  have  been  consciously  or  uncon- 
sciously accepted  as  governing  principles  of  action.  And  these 
ideals  can  become  fixed  only  so  far  as  they  are  acted  upon."  ^ 

Since  society  expects  to  find  in  its  citizens  good 
moral  character,  it  therefore  asks  (1)  that  they  be 
equipped  with  true  and  noble  ideas;  (S)  that  they 
make  these  ideas  the  principles  of  their  conduct;  (3) 
that  they  cultivate  the  emotions  best  adapted  to  trans- 
form these  ideas  into  motives.     For: 

"Beyond  heredity,  and  beyond  environment,  are  those  factors 
that  determine  motives:  the  things  that  prod  us  to  capacity  effort, 
that  set  us  against  the  current  of  mere  circumstances.  These 
things  are  ideas,  the  stuff  and  substance  of  our  knowledge,  the 
results  of  our  educational  process.  To  realize  the  foolishness  of 
evil,  to  understand  the  method  of  its  avoidance,  to  know  how  to 
substitute  for  its  indulgence  a  vigorous  habit  of  healthful  activity 
is,  for  all  robust  natures,  already  to  will,  and  to  achieve,  good 
behavior."  ^ 

Article  III, — What  the  Catholic  Chair ch  Demands, 

The  connection  between  this  article  and  the  preceding 
one  is  clearly  pointed  out  by  Mgr.  J.  Guibert  when  he 
compares  the  demands  made  upon  the  teacher  by  God 
and  by  the  State  :^ 


^  Youth  and  the  Race,  p.  126. 

^Eliott  Park  Frost,  "Habit  Formation  and  Reformation,"  Yale 
Review,  Oct.,  1914,  p.   147. 

'  "La  Soci^te  lui  demande  des  hommes  sains  de  corps  et  d'ame, 
des  citoyens  honnetes  et  devoues  a  la  patrie:  Dieu  lui  demande, 
en  plus,  des  Chretiens  fideles  a  leur  foi  et  des  apotres  z^l6s  pour 
la  defense  et  I'extension  de  PEglise." — Les  Qualit^s  de  I'Educa- 
teur,  p.  5.  The  author  was  Superior  of  the  Seminary  of  the 
Catholic  Institute   (i.  e.,  the  Catholic  University)  of  Paris. 


What  the  Catholic  Church  Demands,  83 

"Society  asks  of  him  men  sound  of  body  and  soul,  citizens  that 
are  honest  and  patriotic.  God  asks,  beside  this,  Christians  that 
are  true  to  their  faith  and  apostles  that  are  zealous  for  the  de- 
fense and  the  expansion  of  the  Church." 

From  this  statement  it  would  appear  that  the  requi- 
sites sought  by  the  CathoHc  Church,  far  from  destroy- 
ing or  supplanting  those  insisted  upon  by  the  State, 
rather  (1)  complete  them  by  adding  other  qualifica- 
tions, and  (2)  transform  them  by  animating  them  with 
a  new  spirit.  We  may  therefore  consider  briefly  the 
requirements  that  are  special  to  the  Catholic  teacher. 
According  to  the  authority  just  cited,  they  are  two  in 
number;  for  the  teacher  must  "nourish  his  soul,  and 
give  his  soul";  because,  "in  the  measure  in  which  he 
gives  out  his  life,  must  he  renew  its  vigor."  ^ 

All  teachers  should  be  firmly  convinced  of  three 
things  : 

(1)  *The  scope  of  their  apostolate  will  be  determined  by  their 
own  personal  worth;  (2)  their  personal  worth  will  be  quickly 
drained  unless  it  is  fed  and  strengthened  by  personal  culture;  (3) 
personal  culture  is  of  obligation  for  all,  and  it  is  possible  for  all 
who  have  sufficient  good  will  to  economize  their  time  and  possess 
their  souls  in  peace.' 

"What  culture  should  the  teacher  acquire?  All  that  may  be  for 
him  a  principle  of  life  and  a  principle  of  action:  his  faith,  his 
virtue,  his  knowledge."  ^ 


^  "Tous  ses  devoirs  se  ram^nent  k  deux :  nourrir  son  dme, 
donner  son  ame,  car,  a  mesure  qu'il  donne  sa  vie,  il  doit  en 
renouveler   la   vigeur." — Id.,  p.   8. 

^  "Je  voudrais  que  tous  les  maitres  fussent  persuades  de  trois 
choses:  que  la  port^e  de  leur  apostolat  sera  en  proportion  de  leur 
valeur;  que  cette  valeur,  fut-elle  tr^s  grande  aux  debuts,  sera  vite 
^puisee  si  elle  n'est  entretenue  et  d6velopp6e  par  la  culture  per- 
sonnelle;  que  cette  culture,  obligatoire  pour  tous,  est  possible  k 


84  The  Personality  of  the  Teacher, 

Faith  is  placed  first.  It  directs  the  teacher  in  the 
choice  of  virtues  to  be  cultivated ;  it  determines  his  aim 
both  in  acquiring  and  in  imparting  knowledge,  it  vital- 
izes his  method.  It  gives  a  broader  outlook  and  a  deeper 
inspiration. 

"The  Gospel  did  not  create  a  new  system  of  culture  in  opposi- 
tion to  that  which  it  found  in  possession,  but  it  introduced  into 
the  latter  an  essentially  new  circle  of  ideas,  equally  foreign  to 
abstract  indefiniteness  and  poetic  exaggeration  on  the  one  hand, 
and  to  mere  empty  knowledge  of  the  letter  on  the  other.  The 
former  bore  the  baleful  mark  of  antiquity ;  the  latter,  that  of 
Jewish  devotion  to  the  letter  of  the  law:  while  Christianity  pos- 
sesses a  definite  personal  unity  in  Jesus  Christ,  the  Alpha  and 
Omega  of  the  Gospel.  Hence  it  is  that  Christianity  exercised  not 
a  destructive  but  a  constructive,  influence  on  the  culture  with 
which,  at  its  birth,  it  was  brought  face  to  face.  By  it  the  content 
of  man's  religious  and  moral  conscience  was  corrected,  broadened, 
completed,  and  elevated."  ^ 

This  estimate  is  confirmed  by  Dr.  Pace,  who  inter- 


tous  pourvu  qu'on  ait  assez  de  volont^  pour  economiser  du  temps 
et  pour  posseder  son  ame.  Mais  que  devra  cultiver  le  maitre? 
Tout  ce  qui  est  en  lui  principe  de  vie  et  principe  d'action;  sa  foi, 
sa  vertu,  son  savoir." — Id.,  pp.  13,  14. 

^  "Das  Evangelium  schuf  nicht  ein  neues  Bildungssystem  in 
Opposition  zu  dem  welches  es  als  ein  historisch  gegebenes  antraf, 
sondern  es  trat  an  dasselbe  mit  einem  wesentlich  neuen  Ideen- 
kreise  heran,  der  ebenso  fern  war  vom  abstrakter  Unbestimmt- 
heit  and  poetischer  Gestalteniiberfulle  wie  leerer  Buchstaben- 
kramerei;  das  eine  die  unheilvolle  Signatur  der  Antike,  das 
andere  die  der  judischen  Schriftgelehrsamkeit,  vielmehr  eine  ganz 
bestimmt  personliche  Einheit  besass,  die  das  Alpha  und  Omega 
seines  Evangeliums  ist,  Jesus  Christus.  Damit  hat  das  Chris- 
tentum  eine  nicht  umsttirzende,  sondern  eine  gestaltende  Macht 
auf  die  Bildung,  welche  es  bei  seinem  Eintritt  in  die  Welt  antraf, 
gelibt,  dass  es  den  Inhalt  des  religios-sittlichen  Bewusstseins 
berichtigte,  erweiterte,  erganzte  und  erhohte." — J.  N.  Brunner, 
Katholische  Religionslehre,  II,  pp.  6,  6. 


What  the  Catholic  Church  Demands.  85 

prets  in  a  Cliristian  sense  Spencer's  definition  of  edu- 
cation as  "preparation  for  complete  living:"^ 

"It  is  just  this  completeness — in  teaching  all  men,  in  harmonizing 
all  truth,  in  elevating  all  relationships,  and  in  leading  the  indi- 
vidual soul  back  to  the  Creator — that  forms  the  essential  charac- 
teristic of  Christianity  as  an  educational  influence."  * 

Just  as  the  exercise  of  faith  presupposes  reason, 
which  examines  and  approves  the  grounds  of  faith,  so 
the  development  of  virtue  implies  a  co-operation  be- 
tween grace  and  nature.  As  the  teacher  must  have 
human  faith,^  so  must  he  cultivate  human,  or  natural, 
virtues.  Of  these,  besides  the  four  cardinal  virtues, 
which  every  man  should  possess,  Mgr.  Guibert  would 
have  the  teacher  excel  in  four:^  (1)  sincerity,  winning 
the  confidence  of  others;  (2)  probity,  respecting  their 
rights;  (S)  delicacy,  displaying  the  courtesy  of  the 
true  gentleman;^  (4)  strength  of  character,  for  the 
teacher  must  "be  a  man."  ^ 

Now,  the  Catholic  Church  teaches  that  our  existence 
does  not  terminate  with  death,  but  that  this  earthly 
life  is  only  a  period  of  probation  and  training  for  life 
everlasting,  just  as  the  school  prepares  for  social 
service    here    on    earth.       Consequently    the    Catholic 


'  See  p.  60,  above. 

^  Catholic  Encyclopedia,  "Education." 

'  See  above,  pp.  28,  29. 

*Op.  cit,  pp.  31-34. 

°Cf.  Cardinal  Newman's  "Idea  of  a  Gentleman"  in  Idea  of  a 
University,  p.  208,  together  with  Rev.  Charles  L.  O'Donnell's  ex- 
planation in  the  Ave  Maria,  Jan.  16,  1915,  p.  73  f. 

°  This  list  is  in  great  accord  with  the  "characteristics  of  the 
best  teachers,"  Pedagogical  Semvnary,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  413. 


86  The  Personality  of  the  Teacher, 

teacher  must  supplement  his  natural  virtues  with  vir- 
tues that  are  supernatural.  He  must  even  develop  his 
natural  virtues  from  supernatural  motives ;  in  other 
words,  he  is  to  raise  them  to  the  plane  of  the  super- 
natural. This  gives  a  deeper  significance  to  the  words 
of  Professor  Miall:^ 

"Everything  falls  into  its  right  place  as  soon  as  we  focus  our 
minds  upon  the  thing  which  really  signifies — that  is,  upon  life." 

It  also  guards  against  the  attitude  which  Professor 
McKenny  deprecates  :^ 

"Nine-tenths  of  the  failures  of  life  are  due  to  a  lack  of  devotion 
to  the  work  in  hand,  to  a  vacillating,  indifferent,  flippant  attitude, 
toward  life.    Such  an  attitude  saps  manhood." 

The  three  theological  virtues  raise  the  Christian  into 
intimate  relationship  with  God:  (1)  faith  does  homage 
to  His  intelligence  by  accepting  the  revelations  made 
by  infinite  Truth;  (2)  hope  honors  the  divine  good- 
ness by  trusting  to  secure  the  personal  everlasting  pos- 
session of  the  reward  promised  to  man;  (3)  charity 
seeks  intimate  union  with  Him  who  has  given  us  the 
law  of  love.  But  in  addition  to  these  spiritual  habits, 
the  Christian  teacher  must  possess  the  supernatural 
virtues  of  humility,  self-denial,  and  detachment;^  for 
these  inhibit  the  three  great  obstacles  to  his  complete 
success,  viz.,  pride,  self-gratification,  and  the  craving 
for  wealth.     These  virtues  bring  us  to  the  very  door  of 


'  Op.  cit.,  p.  217. 

"  The  Personality  of  the  Teacher,  p.  74. 

'  Guibert,  op.  cit,  pp.  35-41. 


What  the  Novitiate  Offers,  87 

the   novitiate.      The   spirit    of   the    typical    Christian 
teacher  is  at  one  with  the  spirit  of  the  typical  novice. 

Article  IV, — What  the  Novitiate  Offers, 

1.  The  novitiate  offers  its  members  a  practical 
course  in  the  philosophy  of  life.  It  unfolds  to  the 
novice  the  significance  of  his  existence  and  action  (a) 
as  creature,  (b)  as  human  being,  (c)  as  Christian,  (d) 
as  religious.  Each  of  these  planes  represents  a  stage 
of  ascent;  whence  we  may  argue  a  certain  measure  of 
propriety  in  St.  Thomas'  designation  of  the  religious 
life  as  a  "state  of  perfection."  ^ 

2.  The  novitiate  gives  training  in  (a)  self-exam- 
ination, (b)  self-mastery  (self-denial),  and  (c)  self- 
realization.  The  first  is  a  condition  of  understanding 
other  minds.  How  wide  may  be  its  scope  and  how  far- 
reaching  its  influence,  is  to  be  inferred  from  its  splendid 
expression  in  Cardinal  Newman's  "Grammar  of  As- 
sent." ^  The  second  qualification  is  a  condition  of 
directing  and  controlling  others.  The  third  is  a  con- 
dition of  developing  an  effective  personality. 

3.  The  novitiate  socializes  its  members.  Together 
the  novices  partake  of  bodily  food;  together  do  they 
feast  on  the  Bread  from  heaven  that  daily  awaits  them 


^  See  above,  pp.  32,  60. 

^The  student  will  find  the  Indexed  Synopsis  of  the  Gram/mar 
of  Assent,  by  J.  Toohey,  S.  J.,  a  great  help.  Rev.  Joseph 
Rickaby's  Index  to  the  Works  of  Cardinal  Newman  (Longmans, 
1914)  is  even  more  valuable,  since  it  extends  to  all  the  Cardinal's 
writings. 


88  The  Personality  of  the  Teacher. 

in  tlie  tabernacle.  Together  they  share  their  joys  and 
their  labors.  Together  they  recite  the  office  in  the 
name  of  the  Church.  Together  do  they  day  by  day 
seek  by  meditation  to  assimilate  the  great  truths  of 
that  faith  whose  tenets  they  may  later  strive  to  trans- 
late into  the  living  deeds  of  their  pupils. 

4.  The  novitiate  opens  an  excellent  laboratory  for 
experiments  in  habit-formation.  The  silence  of  the 
house,  its  seclusion  from  worldly  concerns,  but  most  of 
all,  the  retreat  and  general  confession  prescribed  for 
the  novice  or  recommended  to  him  at  the  beginning  of 
his  career,  break  or  weaken  the  chains  of  the  past.  His 
soul  is  borne  onward  by  the  tide  of  noble  but  controlled 
emotions.  Regular  observance  brings  with  it  endless  op- 
portunity of  practising  the  acts  whose  repetition  helps 
to  build  habit.  The  spirit  of  faith  guards  the  novice's 
fervor  against  that  routine  which  would  either  render 
the  formation  of  habit  impossible  or  weaken  its  efficacy 
or  mar  its  purpose. 

5.  Since,  according  to  the  principles  of  sound 
method,  the  study  of  the  philosophy  of  education 
should  precede  that  of  the  psychology  of  education,^ 
the  novitiate  is  justified  in  making  its  curriculum  con- 
sist chiefly  of  the  meaning  and  value  of  life.  It  thus 
sets  a  standard  of  values.  That  standard  places  re- 
ligious and  ethical  aims  above  the  theories  and  esti- 
mates offered  by  physiology,  psychology,  and  sociol- 
ogy.^    Does  the  history  of  religious  orders  ratify  the 


^  Cf.  Ruediger,  op.  cit.,  p.  11. 
^Cf.  Muensterberg,  ibid. 


What  the  Novitiate  Offers,  89 

appraisal  made  by  the  novitiate?     Let  us  ponder  the 
words  of  Dr.  Heimbucher: 

"The  monks  carried  the  banner  of  culture  and  civilization  to  the 
distant  regions  of  the  earth.  They  were  the  apostles  of  Christian- 
ity, not  only  in  the  West,  but  also  in  Asia  and  in  the  newly  dis- 
covered regions  of  the  globe.  Their  foundations  opened  the  way 
for  the  cultivation  of  the  soil,  for  the  laying  out  of  colonies,  vil- 
lages, and  towns.  The  monks  cleared  forests,  drained  swamps  and 
planted  them,  controlled  rivers,  recovered  fruitful  land  by  the 
building  of  dams,  gave  an  impetus  to  cattle-raising,  to  agriculture 
and  industry,  and  trained  in  these  pursuits  the  colonists  whom  they 
habituated  to  a  fixed  dwelling-place  and  to  regulated  labor.  They 
introduced  the  cultivation  of  fruits  and  vegetables,  they  built  mills 
and  forges,  made  streets  and  bridges,  promoted  trade  and  com- 
merce. They  prepared  the  way  for  the  class  of  free  handworkers, 
and  in  so  doing  favored  the  development  of  city  government. 
They  united  the  handworkers  [craftsmen]  in  fraternal  societies 
and  guilds  and  made  a  point  of  favoring  their  material  advance 
through  appropriate  means.  The  cloisters  practised  hospitality, 
care  of  the  sick,  and  works  of  charity,  wherever  the  opportunity 
was  offered,  erected  schools  and  colleges  [Erziehungsanstalten], 
hospitals  and  inns,  and  took  in  travelers  who  had  lost  their  way. 
Great  have  been  their  services  to  the  arts  and  sciences.  Without 
the  cloisters  many  cities  and  countries  would  be  without  those 
buildings  and  art  treasures  which  to-day  call  forth  the  admiration 
of  all  the  cultured.  The  monks  formed  valuable  libraries,  and 
through  their  unceasing  industry  in  the  scriptoria  (writing-rooms) 
in  making  copies,  which  they  often  illuminated  with  beautiful 
miniatures,  they  preserved  the  priceless  literary  monuments  which 
to-day  link  us  with  the  culture  of  the  distant  past.  They  were 
the  historians  of  their  time.  They  left  many  valuable  sources  of 
the  Old  High  German  tongue;  they  cultivated  poetry  and  song, 
won  for  themselves  a  good  name  by  their  knowledge  of  lands, 
peoples,  and  languages,  mathematics  and  astronomy,  and  the 
science  of  diplomacy  (study  of  records,  titles,  etc.).  They  even 
attempted  natural  philosophy  and  medicine.  But  it  was  espe- 
cially theology  that,  through  the  orders,  experienced  beneficial 
attention  and  progress.  Brotherhoods  copied  and  distributed  a 
superior  kind  of  popular  literature,  and,  after  the  invention  of 


90  The  Personality  of  the  Teacher, 

printing,  applied  themselves  to  the  printing  of  books.  The  care 
of  souls  formed  another  branch  of  the  comprehensive  activity  of 
the  orders.  Attention  was  also  given  to  prisoners,  and  especially 
to  slaves,  for  whose  redemption  from  captivity  special  orders 
arose.  From  the  orders  also  came  many  martyrs,  and  many  of 
the  members  have  been  beatified  or  canonized."  ^ 

Let  us  not  forget  (1)  that  the  one  common,  indis- 
pensable, fundamental  preparation  for  all  these  varied 
forms  of  service  was  the  novitiate;  (2)  that  the  motives 
which  brought  so  many  noble  ideas  and  ideals  into  re- 
ality sprang  from  Christian  faith;  (S)  that  the  works 
which  would  have  been  impossible  for  isolated  individ- 
uals became  facts  through  individuals  who  had  learned 
in  the  novitiate  to  lead  a  "community  life"  and  to  ani- 
mate it  with  the  spirit  of  faith.  And  these  remarks  hold 
true  even  in  the  case  of  orders  that  do  not  specially 
devote  themselves  to  formal  education.  "By  their 
fruits  ye  shall  know  them"  is  a  test  that  is  accepted  by 
both  God  and  man.^ 

We  may  now  better  appreciate  the  worth  of  the  tes- 
timony given  by  an  historian  whom  no  one  will  accuse 
of  prejudice  in  favor  of  the  Catholic  Church: 

"Its  [Latin  Christianity's]  most  important  peculiarity  lay  in 
this — that  a  slow  but  sure  and  unbroken  progress  of  intellectual 
culture  had  been  going  on  within  its  bosom  for  a  series  of  ages. 
.  .  .  Hence  all  the  vital  and  productive  elements  of  human 
culture  were  here  united  and  mingled:  the  development  of  society 
had  gone  on  naturally  and  gradually;  the  innate  passion  and 
genius   for    science   and   for   art   constantly   received   fresh   food 


^  Op.  cit.,  pp.  60,  61.  On  pp.  65,  66,  the  author  cites  non- 
Catholic  testimony  to  the  benefits  accruing  to  the  world  from 
religious  orders. 

*Matt.  vii,  16, 


What  the  Novitiate  Ojfers.  91 

and  fresh  inspiration,  and  were  in  their  fullest  bloom  and  vigor; 
.  .  .  in  Europe  were  found  united  the  most  intelligent,  the 
bravest,  and  the  most  civilized  nations  still  in  the  freshness  of 
youth." ' 

There  is  also  the  prestige  of  example: 

"The  greatest  teachers  and  bishops  of  the  fourth  century,  St. 
Athanasius,  St.  Basil,  his  friend  St.  Gregory,  in  the  East;  St. 
Ambrose,  St.  Martin,  and  St.  Augustine,  in  the  West,  themselves 
introduced  this  life  by  their  example  as  well  as  by  their  precepts. 
No  sooner  had  St.  Augustine,  upon  his  conversion,  renounced  the 
intention  of  marriage,  than  he  drew  together  a  number  of  like- 
minded  friends,  who  with  him  also  gave  up  the  possession  of 
private  goods,  and  the  pursuit  of  every  object  of  temporal 
ambition.  St.  Basil  and  his  friend  St.  Gregory  had  a  generation 
before  done  this,  with  an  earlier  and  more  perfect  choice,  inas- 
much as  they  had  not  first  tasted  the  pleasures  of  the  world. 
St.  Athanasius,  driven  by  persecution  to  Treves  and  to  Rome, 
publishes  a  life  of  St.  Anthony,  and  spreads  throughout  the  West 
an  admiration  of  the  marvelous  virtues  which  he  had  witnessed 
in  the  Fathers  of  the  desert.  By  and  by  the  great  legislator  of 
the  monastic  life  in  the  West,  St.  Benedict,  arises,  who  system- 
atizes for  all  succeeding  ages  the  religious  institute,  as  based 
upon  the  three  vows  of  continence,  poverty,  and  obedience."^ 

Would  it  not  then  be  passing  strange,  if,  since  "with 


^  "Die  wichtigste  Eigenthtimlichkeit  derselben  lag  darin,  dass 
hier  eine  Reihe  von  Jahrhunderten  hindurch  ein  nicht  unter- 
brochener,  langsamer,  aber  sicherer  Fortschritt  der  Cultur  statt 
gefunden  hatte.  .  .  .  Daher  hatten  sich  hier  alle  lebens- 
fahigen  Elemente  der  menschlichen  Cultur  vereinigt,  durch- 
drungen;  die  Dinge  hatten  sich  naturgemass  Schritt  fur  Schritt, 
entwickeln  konnen;  .  .  .  das  Vorkommene  verfiel,  die  Keime 
des  frischen  Lebens  wuchsen  in  jedem  Moment  empor;  hier  waren 
die  geistreichsten,  tapfersten,  gebildetsten  Volker,  noch  immer 
jugendlich,  mit  einander  vereinigt." — Von  Ranke,  Deutsche 
Geschichte  im  Zeitalter  der  Reformfiation,  Band  I,  Buch  I,  cap. 
i,  p.  155. — English  tr.  by  Sarah  Austin,  History  of  the  Eeformor- 
tion  in  Germany,  Vol.  I,  Bk.  I,  Chap.  I,  pp.  251,  252. 

*  Allies,  op.  cit.,  pp.  359,  360. 


9S  The  Personality  of  the  Teacher, 

one  mouth  all  the  ancient  Christian  writers  proclaim 
the  Virginal  Life  to  be  the  condition  of  all  perfect  fol- 
lowing of  our  Lord,"  ^  and  our  Lord  is  the  great 
Teacher  of  mankind,  the  religious  novitiate  should  be 
lacking  in  fundamental  pedagogical  value? 

Article  V, — The  Teacher's  Ideals  of  Personality, 

The  teacher's  personality  is  said  to  constitute  nine- 
tenths  of  the  capital  that  he  needs  to  fulfill  his  mission 
worthily  and  successfully.  Is  personality  a  gift  be- 
stowed from  on  high,  implying  no  preparatory  dis- 
positions or  efforts  on  the  part  of  the  recipient?  Or 
may  one  develop  a  personality  and  in  so  doing  produce 
the  finest  of  masterpieces — a  model  man?  Among  those 
who  take  the  latter  view  is  William  De  Witt  Hyde, 
President  of  Bowdoin  College. 

From  the  history  of  philosophy  Dr.  Hyde  selects 
five  great  ideals  of  education,  and  presents  them  to  the 
teacher.^  The  first  is  the  Epicurean  ideal,  viz.,  that 
pleasure  is  the  great  aim  of  life,  and  therefore  that  pain 
is  the  great  bane  of  existence,  to  be  avoided  at  any 
cost.     Epicurus  himself  ^  did  not  go  the  length  of  some 


^  Id.,  p.  345. 

2  The  complete  title  of  this  book  is  The  Teacher's  Philosophy 
in  and  out  of  School.  The  same  principles  will  be  found  also  in 
his  From  Epictetus  to  Christ,  his  Five  Great  Philosophies  of  Life, 
and  in  Section  XIII  of  his  The  College  Man  and  the  College 
Woman. 

'  Cf.  Alfred  W.  Benn,  The  Greek  Philosophers,  for  these  four 
Greek  ideals;  also  Rev.  W.  Turner,  History  of  Philosophy, 


The  Teacher^s  Ideals  of  Fersonality,  93 

of  his  disciples  in  adopting  the  maxim:  "Eat,  drink, 
and  be  merry;  for  to-morrow  we  shall  die."  But  such 
a  principle  is  valuable  as  illustrating  the  inherent  weak- 
ness of  his  system  and  its  narrowing  and  debasing  tend- 
ency. What,  then,  is  the  teacher  to  do  with  this  ideal 
of  pleasure  if  not  reject  it  entirely?  He  should  make 
rational  use  of  it,  says  Dr.  Hyde.  Just  as  man  con- 
tains in  himself  not  only  reason,  but  the  qualities  of  the 
lower  orders  of  creation,  so  in  virtue  of  these  humbler 
elements  of  his  nature  must  he  satisfy  their  tendencies 
and  demands — all  in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  mo- 
rality. Now,  there  are  times  when  recreation  and  re- 
laxation become  imperative.  Ordinarily  one's  fidelity 
to  duty  and  one's  degree  of  efficiency  will  be  conditioned 
on  the  possession  of  health  and  vigor.  Although  these 
are  not  the  highest  of  perfections,  since  they  belong 
to  man  merely  because  he  is  an  organism,  they  are  yet 
gifts  of  God,  and  as  such  should  be  treasured.  More- 
over, Scripture  nowhere  records  that  the  Saviour  en- 
dured sickness.  Hunger,  thirst,  fatigue,  lassitude  even 
— all  these  indeed  He  suffered — but  of  illness  there  is 
no  mention  except  when  He  is  pictured  as  miraculously 
banishing  it  from  the  bodies  of  those  so  affiicted.  The 
lesson  to  be  drawn  from  this  ideal  is  therefore  one  of 
reasonable  care  for  one's  health  and  strength.  It  in- 
cludes provision  for  sufficient  rest  and  recreation  to  be 
taken  preferably  in  "God's  own  out-of-doors,"  in  the 
society  of  congenial  friends. 

The  second  great  ideal  comes  from  the  Stoics,  and 
stands  in  sharp  contrast  to  the  Epicurean.     According 


94  The  Personality  of  the  Teacher. 

to  this  school  of  philosophy,  the  great  goal  of  hu- 
man endeavor  is  apathy,  a  state  of  indifference  to  pleas- 
ure and  pain,  and  indeed  to  feeling  in  general.  It  vir- 
tually asserts  that  man  is  not  an  animal,  but  a  think- 
ing machine.  Its  practice  is  therefore  to  ignore  the 
joys  and  sorrows  of  life.  The  Stoic  even  tries  to  per- 
suade himself  that  they  do  not  exist.  If  it  be  true  that 
most  of  the  worries  of  life  concern  things  that  never 
happen  at  all,  the  Stoic's  attitude  may  not  be  utterly 
unwise.  The  lesson  for  the  teacher  is  obvious.  His 
calling  bristles  with  trials  and  disappointments,  and  the 
success  of  his  mission  depends  on  his  ability  to  rise 
above  these  annoyances  and,  by  his  dignified  conduct, 
justify  the  confidence  which  his  pupils  place  in  him. 
This  disposition  Dr.  Hyde  names  "Stoic  self-control 
by  law." 

The  third  great  ideal  is  Plato's.  For  him,  man's 
body  and  the  material  universe  were  but  accidents,  or 
at  most  incidents.  Both  his  Republic  and  his  Laws 
were  consistent,  though  not  successful,  plans  for  the 
establishment  of  an  ideal — or  Utopian — State.  Yet  if 
one  is  to  live  his  own  life,  to  see  above  and  beyond  the 
petty  details  of  his  trade  or  profession,  he  must  be  ideal- 
istic in  the  sense  of  having  true  ideas  of  the  value  and 
the  purpose  of  life;  and  from  time  to  time  he  must 
climb  the  mountain  of  idealism  to  breathe  a  purer  at- 
mosphere and  to  draw  new  courage  for  the  battle  in 
and  with  the  world.  But  if  they  are  to  be  of  real 
service,  these  short  periods  of  withdrawal  from  his  daily 
occupations  should  but  fit  him  the  better  for  the  daily 


The  Teacher^s  Ideals  of  Personality,  95 

demands  made  upon  him.  It  is  in  this  spirit  that  "hob- 
bies" and  avocations  may  have  a  genuine  uplifting  in- 
fluence on  character.  The  lesson  is  therefore  that  of 
being  larger  than  one's  calling,  of  refusing  to  be  ab- 
sorbed by  it,  since  it  is  a  means,  not  an  end.  In  other 
words,  the  teacher  must  cultivate  a  "Platonic  subor- 
dination of  lower  to  higher." 

The  fourth  great  ideal  is  that  of  Aristotle.  Unlike 
Plato,  Aristotle  lays  a  secure  foundation  on  facts  per- 
ceived by  sense  and  examined  by  intellect.  His  attitude 
is  not  poetic,  like  that  of  his  great  teacher,  but  scien- 
tific. He  seeks  to  ascertain  the  true  relations  of  things 
and  thereby  to  develop  a  sense  of  proportion.  In  this 
respect  he  has  been  a  safe  guide  for  subsequent  ages. 
Every  real  educator,  says  Dr.  Hyde,  is  called  upon  to 
do  twenty  times  as  much  as  he  can  do  with  any  justice 
to  himself  and  to  the  work  in  question.  He  must  there- 
fore cultivate  a  sense  of  proportion  and  discriminate 
between  the  things  that  are  important  and  those  that 
only  seem  so.  In  order  to  do  well  the  one-twentieth 
that  is  possible,  he  must  learn  to  say  "No !"  kindly  yet 
firmly  when  occasion  calls  for  refusal.  Only  in  this 
way  will  he  keep  that  peace  of  mind  which  is  essential 
to  him  as  man  and  as  teacher.  Only  in  this  way  will  he 
practise  the  "Aristotelian  sense  of  proportion." 

Lastly,  there  is  the  ideal  set  before  man  by  the  In- 
carnate Wisdom  of  God  when  He  came  down  upon 
earth  to  teach  by  word  and  example.  Its  character- 
istic is  a  spirit  of  love,  proclaimed,  like  a  clarion  call, 
from  the  great  pulpit  of  the  cross.     The  teacher  who 


96  The  Personality  of  the  Teacher. 

would  walk  in  the  footsteps  of  the  Greatest  of  all 
Teachers  must  early  learn  the  lesson  of  sacrifice.  It  is 
the  means  of  redemption  for  himself  and  his  pupils. 
The  Christian  ideal  includes  and  exalts  all  that  is  good 
in  the  other  four.^ 

These  ideals  of  personality,  based  as  they  are  on 
fundamental  views  of  life,  deserve  a  prominent  place  in 
the  philosophy  of  education.  Of  the  benefit  which  the 
teacher  may  derive  from  their  careful  study,  let  Dr. 
Hyde  himself  speak  : 

"Show  me  any  teacher  of  sufficient  mental  training  and  quali- 
fications who  is  unpopular,  ineffective,  unhappy,  and  I  will  guar- 
antee that  this  teacher  has  violated  one  or  more  of  these  prin- 
ciples of  personality.  .  .  .  On  the  other  hand,  I  will  guarantee 
perfect  personal  success  to  any  well-trained  teacher  who  will 
faithfully  incorporate  these  principles  into  his  personal  life. 
.  .  .  This  teacher  can  no  more  help  being  a  personal  success 
as  a  teacher  than  the  sunlight  and  rain  can  help  making  the 
earth  the  fruitful  and  beautiful  place  that  it  is."^ 

The  first  four  of  these  ideals  have  long  been  held  in 
honor  in  the  normal  school.  The  difficulty  arises  in 
recognizing  and  following  the  fifth,  which  is  the  great- 
est of  all.  How  serious  may  be  the  consequences  of 
ignoring  it,  we  have  noted  in  Chapter  I.^  After  years 
of  careful  study  given  to  the  question.  Dr.  F.  W. 
Foerster  has  arrived  at  this  conclusion:* 


^Dr.  Hyde  calls  attention  to  this  fact,  pp.  78-81. 

2  Op.  cit,  pp.  81,  82,  83. 

« See  Chap.  I,  Arts.  VI,  VII. 

*  "Gegeniiber  der  religiosen  Ethik  ist  die  blosse  Moral  immer 
nur  ein  Kreuz  ohne  Auferstehung — die  Religion  erst  bezieht  alle 
Ueberwindung  auf  ein  hochstes  Gut  des  personlichen  Lebens. 
Die  Moral  religios  begrunden,  das  heisst  eben  diese  ganz  person- 


The  Teacher^s  Ideals  of  Personality.  97 

"In  contrast  with  religious  ethics,  mere  morality  is  at  best 
only  a  cross  without  a  resurrection — for  it  is  religion  that  turns 
every  conquest  to  the  highest  good  of  our  personal  life.  To 
give  morality  a  religious  foundation  is  to  perceive  this  personal 
significance  of  the  moral,  to  concentrate  our  attention  upon  it,  to 
draw  inspiration  from  it.  To-day  it  is  regarded  as  a  mark  of 
developed  personality  to  strip  the  moral  of  its  religious  basis; 
whereas  in  reality  this  religious  basis  is  the  true  foundation  of 
personality,  since  this  alone  can  represent  the  sacrificing  of  life  as 


liche  Bedeutung  des  Sittlichen  herausempfinden,  sich  darauf  kon- 
centrieren,  daraus  die  Inspiration  entnehmen.  Es  gilt  ja  heute 
als  Zeichen  der  entwickelten  Personlichkeit,  dass  man  die 
religiose  Begriindung  des  Sittlichen  abstreift — in  Wirklichkeit 
aber  ist  die  religiose  Begriindung  die  wahrhaft  personliche 
Begriindung,  well  sie  allein  die  Hingehwng  des  Lebens  als  den 
Gewinn  des  wahren  Lebens  darzustellen — und  nicht  bloss  darzu- 
stellen,  sondern  in  einem  ergreifenden  Leben  und  Sterben  zu 
verkorpern  vermag.  Der  blosse  dumpfe  Lebenstrieb  rebelliert 
seinem  Wesen  nach  gegen  das  Sittengesetz — die  christliche  Re- 
ligion klart  den  Menschen  am  tiefsten  und  tiberzeugendsten  iiber 
das  Wesen  des  wahren  Lebens  und  der  wahren  Freiheit  auf — ^in 
diesem  aufgeklarten  Zustande  erfasst  der  Mensch  dann  alle 
Ueberwindung  als  hochste  personliche  Lebenserfiillung.  So 
versteht  allein  die  christliche  Religion  die  dussere  gesellschaft- 
liche  Forderung  mit  dem  tiefsten  personliche  Freiheitsdrange,  die 
Beschrankung  des  Lebens  mit  dem  Lebensdurste  zu  versohnen; 
sie  allein  ubersetzt  wirklich  und  lebendig  den  Gehorsam  in  die 
Sprache  der  Freiheit,  sie  ist  der  Ort,  in  dem  Individuum  und 
Gesellschaft  sich  innerlich  vermahlen.  Und  eben  diese  Leistung 
des  Christentums  hat  Paulus  in  Auge,  wenn  er  sagt,  das  Chris- 
tentum  beendige  die  Knechtschaft  des  Gesetzes.  Alle  blosse 
Ethik  bleibt  in  der  Knechtschaft  des  Gesetzes;  auch  die  wissen- 
schaftliche  Ethik  ist  ja  nur  eine  wissenschaftliche  Darstellung 
dieser  Knechtschaft.  Die  Ethik  erzahlt  dem  Menschen  von 
gesellschaftlichen  Notwendigkeiten — die  Religion  erzahlt  ihm  von 
sich  selbst,  seiner  hoheren  Herkunft,  von  der  tiefverborgenen 
Kraften  seiner  geistigen  Natur,  weckt  seine  Sehnsucht  nach 
vollkommener  Freiheit,  stellt  diese  Freiheit  in  strahlender  VoU- 
endung:  das  ist  religiose  Begriindung  der  moral." — "Religion  und 
Charakterbindung,"  Mbmoires  sur  VEducation  Morale  pr4sent^$  au 
deuzidme  Congr^s  international  d'Education  Morale  a  la  Have, 
1912,  p.  7. 


98  The  Personality  of  the  Teacher. 

the  gaining  of  true  life.  And  not  only  this,  it  may  even  incor- 
porate it  so  thoroughly  as  to  embrace  both  life  and  death.  The 
mere  animal  impulse  of  self-preservation,  by  its  very  nature, 
rebels  against  the  moral  law.  The  Christian  religion  enlightens 
man  in  the  most  thorough  and  convincing  way  as  to  the  nature  of 
genuine  life  and  real  freedom;  and  so  enlightened,  man  perceives 
that  self-mastery  is  the  realization  of  the  highest  personal  life. 
Thus  it  comes  to  pass  that  only  the  Christian  religion  knows  how 
to  reconcile  external  social  demands  with  the  most  intimate  crav- 
ing for  personal  freedom;  the  restraints  of  life,  with  the  craving 
for  life.  Only  the  Christian  religion  really  and  vitally  translates 
obedience  into  the  language  of  freedom;  only  within  her  pale  is 
the  individual  truly  wedded  to  society.  And  it  is  just  this  func- 
tion of  Christianity  that  St.  Paul  has  in  mind  when  he  says  that 
Christianity  puts  an  end  to  the  bondage  of  the  law.  All  pure 
ethics  remains  in  bondage  to  the  law;  even  ethics  as  a  science 
is  only  a  scientific  presentation  of  just  this  bondage.  Ethics 
speaks  to  man  of  social  needs;  but  religion  tells  him  of  himself, 
his  noble  origin,  of  the  hidden  powers  of  his  spiritual  nature, 
stimulates  his  craving  for  entire  freedom,  represents  this  free- 
dom in  its  dazzling  perfection,  and  then  points  out  morality  to 
him  as  the  way  to  this  perfection.  Such  is  the  religious  basis 
of  morality." 

What  use  does  the  novitiate  make  of  these  five  ideals  ? 

1.  It  teaches  the  lesson  of  necessary  rest  and  recre- 
ation, (a)  by  making  provision  for  them  in  the  rules 
and  constitutions  of  the  order;  (b)  by  obeying  the 
decree  of  the  Holy  See  dated  19  March,  1603. 

S.  It  teaches  the  lesson  of  Stoic  fortitude,  but  tem- 
pers it  with  reliance  on  Divine  Providence.  It  bids  the 
novices  heed  the  words  of  St.  Peter:  "Cast  all  your 
care  upon  the  Lord,  for  He  hath  care  of  you";^  and 
take  to  heart  the  Saviour's  message  at  the  Last  Supper: 

^  1  Pet.  V,  7. 


The  Teacher's  Ideals  of  Personality,  99 

"Let  not  your  heart  be  troubled.     You  believe  in  God; 
believe  also  in  Me."  ^ 

3.  The  Platonic  ideal  in  its  best  form  is  cherished 
day  after  day  by  spiritual  reading  and  devout  medita- 
tion. It  is  kept  pure  by  silence  in  the  community  and 
by  withdrawal  from  the  world  of  affairs. 

4.  A  typical  illustration  of  the  Aristotelian  sense  of 
proportion  is  implied  in  St.  John  Baptist  de  la  Salle's 
advice  to  his  Brothers: 

"If  we  desire  to  perform  our  actions  with  the  perfection  that 
God  requires  of  us,  we  must  be  particularly  careful  not  to  per- 
form any  thoughtlessly  or  with  precipitation.  Hence,  before 
undertaking  what  is  proposed,  we  should  wait  some  time  to  con- 
sider and  examine  four  things:  (1)  Whether  the  action  we  are 
about  to  perform  be  contrary  to  the  law  of  God,  or  will  offend 
Him  in  any  way;  (2)  whether  this  action  will  not  withdraw  us 
from  our  duty  and  the  obligations  of  our  state,  which  we  should 
perform  perfectly  and  in  preference  to  all  other  good  that  we 
might  accomplish;  (3)  whether  it  be  contrary  to  the  rules  of 
the  community  or  to  the  resolutions  we  have  taken  to  regulate 
our  conduct;  (4)  whether  it  be  opposed  to  some  greater  good, 
either  for  ourselves  or  for  our  neighbor."^ 

5.  As  to  the  realization  of  the  Christian  ideal,  it  is 
the  very  purpose  for  which  the  order  exists.  When  the 
novice  shows  no  disposition  to  labor  for  this  end,  he  is 
summarily  dismissed.  We  may,  therefore,  conclude 
that,  although  the  religious  novitiate  directly  pre- 
pares only  for  the  religious  life,  yet,  by  its  insistence 
on  the  spirit  of  faith  and  its  frequent  daily  exercise 
of  the  virtue  of  faith,  it  tends  to  develop  good  strong 


John  xiv,  I. 

Collection  of  Short  Treatises,  pp.  121,  122. 


100  The  Personality  of  the  Teacher. 

character.     It  supplies  as  a  by-product  the  most  im- 
portant factor  in  the  personality  of  the  teacher. 

"Seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  His  justice, 
and  all  these  things  shall  be  added  unto  you."  ^ 

General  Summary/, — The  Necessity  of  Faith, 

We  have  seen  in  Chapter  I  that  the  work  of  educa- 
tion is  impossible  without  genuine  human  faith — (1) 
faith  of  the  teacher  in  the  pupil,  (S)  faith  of  the  pupil 
in  his  teacher,  (3)  faith  of  the  pupil  in  his  fellow-pupils. 
Moreover,  education  as  a  process  and  a  system  is  im- 
possible without  faith  on  the  part  of  society — (1)  faith 
in  an  educational  ideal,  (2)  faith  in  the  efficacy  of  edu- 
cation not  merely  for  the  select  few,  but  also  for  the 
democratic  many,  (8)  faith  in  the  value  of  right  meth- 
ods when  properly  employed. 

This  human  faith  imposes  (1)  on  the  teacher  the 
duty  of  developing  a  noble  character,  a  fine  personality 
— (a)  in  himself,  (b)  in  his  pupils;  (2)  on  the  pupils 
the  duty  of  responding  promptly  and  fully  by  due  serv- 
ice, to  these  efforts  to  fit  them  for  their  social  heritage. 

Yet  the  public  normal  school  has  some  limitations.  It 
is  not  permitted  to  teach  directly  either  as  moral  train- 
ing or  in  connection  with  any  other  subject  of  the  cur- 
riculum the  highest  form  of  religion  revealed  to  man. 
It  is  not  permitted  to  teach  definite  Christian  doctrines 
as  divine  in  origin  and  therefore  binding  on  man.  It 
is  not  permitted  to  trace  their  development  in  history 

» Matt,  vi,  33. 


The  Necessity  of  Faith.  101 

nor  to  show  how  the  hearty  and  full  acceptance  of 
Christian  principles  leads  to  the  development  of  that 
type  of  character  which  we  speak  of  as  personal  holi- 
ness. It  is  therefore  denied  the  use  of  the  most  effica- 
cious means  to  form  character. 

In  Chapter  II  we  saw  that  the  religious  novitiate 
proposes  to  the  novice  as  his  chief  studies  God  and 
the  human  soul;  as  his  special  method,  "spiritual 
exercises."  Self-examination  was  found  to  be  a  means 
to  self-mastery,  and  self-mastery  was  to  be  won  largely 
through  assiduous  "meditation."  Meditation  includes 
not  only  a  learning  process,  but  also  practice  in  moti- 
vation and  habit-building  as  well  as  in  thinking  and 
willing.  Besides  these  forms  of  training  which  develop 
him  in  his  individual  capacity — so  to  say,  "from  the 
foundation  up,"  viz.,  as  creature,  human  being.  Chris- 
tian, and  religious — the  novice  as  a  social  being  is 
trained  to  obedience  and  "fraternal  charity."  He  is 
taught  also  to  look  beyond  the  immediate  present  and 
to  forecast  the  effects  of  his  actions  on  himself  and  on 
others  not  only  in  the  near  future,  but  even  beyond  the 
limits  of  time.  To  appreciate  so  great  a  responsi- 
bility and  to  prepare  for  its  fulfillment,  he  must  de- 
velop the  "spirit  of  faith,"  which  endeavors  to  appraise 
things  at  their  eternal  values.  The  limitations  im- 
posed by  the  novitiate  help  to  secure  the  higher  per- 
sonal development  of  the  novice  and  to  guarantee  for 
him  a  larger  measure  of  social  efficiency. 

Of  the  five  ideals  of  personality  considered  in  Chapter 
III,  the  Christian  ideal,  with  its  essential  note  of  sacri- 


iO^  I'he  Personality  of  the  Teacher, 

fice,  IS,  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  only  incidental  in 
the  normal  school.  In  the  novitiate,  it  is  not  only 
integral,  but  essential.  Without  it  even  the  profes- 
sional spirit  suffers.  The  Religious  Novitiate,  there- 
fore, since  it  develops  a  fine  type  of  personality  and 
directly  fosters  the  professional  spirit,  renders  a  vital 
pedagogical  service  to  society. 


BOOK  II. 
FAITH. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


Faith  and  Its  Exercise. 


Article  L — The  Nature  and  Kinds  of  Faith. 

We  have  instituted  a  comparison  between  the  normal 
school  and  the  religious  novitiate  in  aim,  curriculum, 
method,  spirit,  and  limitations.  We  have  seen  that  in 
both  normal  school  and  novitiate  it  is  the  person,  the 
individual,  that  counts.  We  have  found  that  the 
teacher's  greatest  asset  is  character  or  "personality," 
in  the  best  meaning  of  that  term.  The  development  of 
personality,  precisely  because  it  is  a  work  of  educa- 
tion,— it  is,  indeed,  the  great  work  of  education, — is 
impossible  without  faith.  This  faith  must  be  not  theo- 
retical only ;  it  is  essential  that  it  be  practical  also.  It 
must  be  regularly  and  intelligently  exercised  by  both 
teacher  and  pupil:  by  the  teacher  that  is,  and  the 
teacher  that  is  to  be.  In  the  State  normal  school,  as 
at  present  constituted,  only  human  faith  can  receive 
official  recognition;  whereas  the  novitiate  is  unthink- 
able without  the  daily  exercise  of  divine  faith.  It  is, 
therefore,  important  to  consider  more  closely  the  na- 
ture of  divine  faith,  and  the  character  of  its  influence 
on  the  conduct  of  the  teacher.  To  this  end  we  shall 
first  examine  the  nature  of  faith  in  general. 

The  fundamental  element  in  the  concept  of  faith  in 

105 


106  Faith  and  Its  Ewer  else, 

general,  as  suggested  by  its  etymology,  is  "loyal 
fidelity."  ^  It  is,  therefore,  kindred  in  meaning,  as 
well  as  in  derivation,  to  "confidence."  Closely  allied  to 
faith  is  belief,  for  to  believe  a  thing  is  literally  to 
"hold  it  dear."  St.  Thomas  Aquinas  ^  and  Immanuel 
Kant  ^  agree  in  placing  faith,  or  belief,  between  "opin- 
ion" and  "science" ;  but  faith,  as  such,  always  excludes 
doubt. 

Viewed  as  an  act,  it  is  always  a  judgment,  since  it  is 


'  Cf .  Middle  English  feith;  Old  French  feid;  Latin  fides,  allied 
to  fidere,  to  trust.  The  prefix  he-  in  believe  is  a  substitute  for 
the  older  ge-  (cf.  Anglo-Saxon  geliefan).  According  to  Cardinal 
Newman,  belief  refers  more  to  the  material  objects  of  faith;  that 
is,  the  truths  to  be  believed:  whereas,  "faith,  in  its  theological 
sense,  includes  a  belief  not  only  in  the  thing  believed,  but  also 
in  the  ground  of  believing;  that  is,  not  only  in  certain  doctrines, 
but  belief  in  them  expressly  because  God  has  revealed  them." — 
Oramrrmr  of  Assent,  p.  95. 

When  the  two  terms  are  distinguished,  "faith"  is  often  used 
when  the  object  is  personal;  "belief,"  when  it  is  impersonal.  "A 
man  has  faith  in  his  father,  his  physician,  his  fellow-student,  his 
God;  he  believes  the  necessity  of  tariff  reform,  the  doctrine  that 
acquired  characters  are  inherited,  the  dogma  of  the  inspiration  of 
the  Bible"  (M.  W.  Calkins,  A  First  Book  in  Psychology,  p.  245). 

Dr.  Dubray  writes:  "Knowledge  is  based  on  immediate  or  medi- 
ate evidence  and  is  essentially  rational.  Belief  refers  to  that  which 
is  not  evident,  or  at  least  not  clearly  so:  thus  it  is  partly  rational, 
partly  emotional,  and  partly  volitional  in  its  causes.  In  the  ac- 
ceptance of  a  statement,  the  proportion  of  objective  and  sub- 
jective influences  may  vary;  a  truth  is  more  or  less  impersonal 
and  more  or  less  personal."  {Introductory  Philosophy,  p.  20.) 
He  does  not  discuss  faith. 

It  is  not  the  province  of  this  chapter  to  go  into  the  theological 
aspects  of  faith;  for  these,  see  "Faith" — Hugh  Pope,  Catholic  En- 
cyclopedia; J.  V.  Bainvel,  La  Foi  et  I'Acte  de  Foi;  F.  Mallet, 
Qu'est-ce  que  la  Foi? 

^  Sumrrm  Theologica,  Ila-IIae,  q.  1.  a.  4.    Cf.  Ila-IIae,  q.  2.  a.  1. 

'  "Vom  Meinen,  Wissen  und  Glauben,"  Kritik  der  reinen  Ver- 
nunft,  Bd.  Ill,  6,  531,  Simmtliche  Werke  (Berlin,  1904). 


The  Nature  and  Kinds  of  Faith.  107 

an  assent.  As  a  "habit,"  it  becomes  an  "apperceptive 
state,"  or  an  "attitude."  Viewed  simply  as  a  judg- 
ment, it  does  not  differ  intrinsically  from  "intelligence" 
or  "science,"  from  doubt  or  opinion;  for  all  these 
mental  states  are  either  explicit  or  implicit  acts  of  as- 
sent. But  it  differs  from  all  of  them  in  its  motive.  In 
the  case  of  intelligence,  or  understanding,  the  motive 
is  the  proposition  as  known  intuitively,  i,  e.,  directly. 
"Science,"  on  the  other  hand,  is  motived  by  conclusions 
accepted  as  certain,  because  correctly  deduced  from 
first  principles  known  to  be  true.  Doubt,  however,  is  a 
negative  state;  it  excludes  assent,  properly  so-called. 
Opinion,  though  not  excluding  assent  altogether,  yet 
implies  the  possibility  of  error,  and  is  therefore  incom- 
patible with  that  certainty  which  is  an  element  of  gen- 
uine belief  and  faith.  The  true  characteristic,  then,  of 
faith  and  belief  is  authority.  In  other  words,  we  as- 
sent, not  because  the  fact  or  proposition  is  intrinsic- 
ally evident  to  us,  but  because  it  is  extrinsically  evi- 
dent. But  we  have  or  can  have  intrinsic  evidence  of 
the  competence  of  the  authority  whose  word  we  accept. 

Yet  there  is  a  pronounced  tendency  at  the  present 
day  to  use  the  term  "belief"  more  loosely  than  this, 
especially  when  it  signifies  human  belief  and  is  applied 
to  matters  that  do  not  directly  concern  religion.  How- 
ever, both  ancient  and  modern  philosophers  are  practi- 
cally in  agreement  on  these  two  points:  (1)  the  object 
of  faith;  that  is,  the  fact  or  principle  believed,  is  less 
clearly  perceived  than  is  the  object  of  science;  (2) 
faith  is  therefore  subject  in  some  way  to  the  influence 


108  Faith  and  Its  Exercise, 

of  the  will  and  the  emotions.^  Although  faith  is  thus 
influenced  by  the  "heart"  of  man,  nevertheless  it  begins 
and  terminates  in  an  act  of  the  intellect,^  and  this  is 
of  its  very  essence.  It  is  important  to  bear  this  fact 
in  mind  when  one  is  forming  an  estimate  of  the  educa- 
tional value  of  faith. 

Since  to  "believe  a  thing"  is  primarily  to  "hold  it 
dear,"  we  may  attend,  on  the  one  hand,  to  the  fact  or 
principle  itself,  or,  on  the  other,  to  our  attitude  toward 
its  acceptance.  The  object  of  faith  consists  of  the 
fact  or  facts,  the  principle  or  body  of  principles,  held 
to  be  true.  On  the  part  of  the  believing  subject,  the 
essence  of  faith  is  deliberate  and  cordial  acceptance  of 
these  facts  or  principles  as  true  and  therefore  as  stand- 
ards of  judgment  and  conduct.  When  used  in  the  strict 
sense  of  the  term,  faith  includes  the  concept  of  "testi- 
mony"; that  is,  we  believe  a  thing  because  its  truth  is 
vouched  for  by  a  competent  witness. 

Faith,  whether  considered  with  reference  to  the 
truths  believed,  or  to  the  person  who  believes  them,  is 
either  human  or  divine,  according  as  it  rests  on  the 

^  Cf.   S.    Harent,   "Croyance"   Dictiormaire   de   tMologie   catho- 


2  Thus  Harent,  loc.  cit  (coll.  2365,  2366):  "Ainsi  la  croyance  doit 
partir  d'un  acte  initial  de  Pintelligence  [ml  volitn/m  quin  prcecog- 
nitwrn],  et  a  travers  I'influence  de  la  partie  affectif  elle  aboutit  k 
un  nouvel  acte  de  Pintelligence  plus  ferme  que  le  premier. 
Si  nous  ne  tenons  pas  compte  de  ce  dernier  terme  qui  la  specifie,  si 
pour  nous  la  croyance  n'etait  qu'un  objet,  si  elle  ne  s'achevait  pas 
dans  une  certitude  de  I'esprit,  ce  ne  serait  plus  en  definitive  qu'un 
acte  purement  affectif,  contre  le  sens  plus  intellectuel  que  tout  le 
monde  attache  au  mot  croire;  et  meme  le  probl^me  de  la  croyance 
serait  arbitrairement  supprim6,  et  trop  ais^ment  remplace  par  le 
plus  simple  de  ph^nomfenes." 


The  Nature  and  Kinds  of  Faith.  109 

authority  of  man  or  of  God.  Viewed  objectively,  divine 
faith  consists  of  the  whole  organic  body  of  truth  re- 
vealed by  God  to  enable  man  to  reach  his  everlasting 
destiny.  Viewed  subjectively,  divine  faith  is  primarily 
an  act  of  divine  faith,  and  as  such  is  defined  by  St. 
Thomas  to  be  "the  act  of  the  intellect  assenting  to  a 
divine  truth  under  the  impulse  of  the  will,  which  is  itself 
moved  by  the  grace  of  God."  ^  Yet  such  acts  of  faith 
even  when  repeated  at  frequent  and  regular  intervals 
and  with  that  cordial  assent  which  is  characteristic  of 
''loyal  fidelity,"  cannot  of  themselves  produce  the 
"habit"  of  divine  faith.  This  must  be  infused  by  God; 
it  is  not  acquired.  But  once  infused,  it  can  be  devel- 
oped and  intensified  by  repeated  "acts"  of  divine  faith. 
This  habit  in  turn  connotes  an  "attitude"  of  mind  with 
respect  to  revealed  truth  and  the  "behavior"  which  its 
acceptance  makes   obligatory.     This   "attitude"  ^   can 

'^  Summa  Theologica,  Ila-IIae,  q.  4,  a.  2. 

^  "By  an  attitude  is  meant  an  organization  of  various  mental 
capacities  in  a  definite  way  about  certain  situations,  or  problems 
of  life.  Attitudes  are  correlated  with  the  situations,  not  in  the 
sense  that  they  are  results,  but  simply  in  that  a  reaction  to  a  sit- 
uation necessitates  such  an  organization  of  mental  elements  on  the 
part  of  the  individual." — Irving  King,  Development  of  Religion, 
p.  30.  (We  are  far,  however,  from  accepting  the  author's  expla- 
nation of  the  origin  of  religion.) 

Professor  Baldwin  {Dictionary  of  Philosophy  and  Psychology, 
s.  V.)  writes  of  Attitude:  "Mentally,  it  is  a  state  of  attention  pri- 
marily, and  secondarily  an  expression  for  habitual  tendencies  and 
interests.  A  physical  A.  is  primarily  a  state  of  partial  stimulation 
to  action  of  a  definite  kind,  and  secondarily  an  expression  of 
habit."  .  .  .  Attitudes  toward  action  may  be  "revivals  of  earlier 
actions  brought  about  by  the  perception  or  thought  of  the  object 
to  which  they  are  appropriate."  [It  is  this  aspect  of  attitude  that 
is  important  for  religious  faith.]  "In  genetic  psychology  the  view 
has  been  worked  out  that  the  organizing  and  the  conserving  of 


110  Faith  and  Its  Exercise. 

best  be  pictured  as  that  of  a  dutiful  son  toward  a 
worthy  father.  The  term  is,  however,  unsatisfactory 
to  the  consistent  Catholic.  It  seems  to  him  too 
"passive"  in  its  implication.  He,  therefore,  prefers  the 
more  vital  expression  of  "spirit  of  faith";  for  the 
spirit  of  faith  connotes  not  merely  willing  submis- 
sion to  the  action  of  Divine  Providence,  but  also  the 
active  squaring  of  one's  conduct  with  the  truths  re- 
vealed by  God.  The  spirit  of  faith  joins  "behavior"  ^ 
to  "attitude."  To  develop  it  is  to  develop  spiritual 
life.  It  socializes  the  individual,  training  him  to  take 
over  God's  viewpoint,  to  appreciate  the  eternal  values 
of  things,  and,  in  all  that  is  right  and  best,  to  give 
cordial  support  to  his  neighbor  as  an  "heir  apparent" 
of  the  Almighty  Father  of  us  all.^ 

In  recent  years  not  a  little  attention  has  been  given 
to  the  genesis  of  faith  in  the  individual.  The  topic  is 
one  of  the  most  interesting  in  the  whole  field  of  genetic 
psychology.  From  the  Catholic  viewpoint  it  is  also 
one  of  supreme  importance,  since  it  intimately  affects 
man's  life  here  and  his  destiny  hereafter.  A  view  that 
has  obtained  wide  currency  is  a  corollary  from  that 
form  of  evolutionism  which  holds  that  man  is  descended 


the  experience  on  which  mental  development  proceeds,  are  due  to 
two  typical  attitudes,  under  which  all  those  of  attention  and  ac- 
tion may  be  subsumed,  the  attitudes  of  Habit  and  Accommoda- 
tion."— These  two  attitudes  will  be  considered  at  some  length  in 
Chap.  VII,  Psychological  Aspects  of  Faith,  (See  below,  pp. 
267  if.) 

^  Cf .  W.  James,  Talks  to  Teachers,  Chap.  I ;  Colvin  and  Bagley, 
Human  Behavior,  passim. 

'See  below,  pp.  316  ff. 


The  Nature  and  Kinds  of  Faith,  111 

from  brute  ancestors  and  that  consequently  he  diifers 
from  the  rest  of  the  animal  kingdom  in  degree  only,  not 
in  kind.    Whoever  accepts  such  a  principle  is  compelled 
to  trace  faith  back  to  some  element  or  combination  of 
elements  which  man,  as  we  know  him  to-day,  holds  in 
common  with  the  brute  kind.     Instinct,  and  more  par- 
ticularly   instinctive    feeling,    has    therefore    been    re- 
garded by  many  psychologists  as  the  necessary  and 
adequate  source  of  human  belief.     Starting  from  the 
fact,  which  any  one  can  verify  for  himself,^  that  the 
content  of  consciousness  at  any  given  moment  includes 
a  "center"  or  "focus,"  to  which  we  directly   attend, 
and   a   "margin"   or   "fringe,"   of  which  we   are   only 
vaguely  aware.  Professor  J.  B.  Pratt  ^  ascribes  this 
"fringe"  to  what  he  calls   the  "feeling  background." 
The   "definite,   describable,   communicable   elements   of 
consciousness,"     such     as     cognitions — "the     material 
which  may  be  made  public  property  by  means  of  scien- 
tific and  exact  description" — all  this  occupies  the  center 
of  consciousness;  but  the  "indefinite,  the  indescribable, 
the  peculiarly  private  mass  of  subjective  experiences, 
which,  by  their  very  nature,  are  not  susceptible  of  com- 
munication," such  as  feelings  and  emotions — these  are 


*  Professor  James  was  probably  the  first  to  emphasize  this  dis- 
tinction (cf.  Principles  of  Psychology,  Vol.  I,  pp.  240-264). 

*  The  Psychology  of  Religious  Belief,  pp.  6-8.  He  thinks  that 
this  "dual  classification"  is  in  line  with  Aristotle's  division  of  the 
mind  into  "thought"  and  "desire."  His  interpretation  of  the 
Stagyrite  is,  however,  open  to  criticism.  For  Aristotle  divides 
mental  processes  not  into  thoughts  and  desires,  but  into  cognition£| 
(including  two  species,  viz.,  sensations  and  intellections)  and  appe- 
titions  (^so  of  two  species,  viz.,  sensuous  and  r^tipnal). 


11^  Faith  and  Its  Exercise, 

distributed  over  the  margin  of  consciousness.  Further- 
more, it  is  "through  this  non-rational,  vital  feeling 
mass  that  we  are  united  to  our  own  past,  to  our  an- 
cestors, and  to  the  race — in  fact,  in  a  sense,  to  all  liv- 
ing things."  ^  This  "feeling  background"  in  us  thus 
becomes  a  "compendium  of  history."  Such  views  are, 
of  course,  evolutionistic  in  the  extreme.  It  is  but  a 
natural  consequence  of  their  acceptance  to  identify 
"our  nature  as  a  whole"  with  "the  organism"  and  to 
make  the  "feeling  background"  the  "expression"  of 
both.  Man's  priceless  possessions  of  intellect  and  will 
fare  rather  badly  at  the  professor's  hands;  for  he  af- 
firms that  "the  organism — our  nature  as  a  whole — 
...  is  essentially  right ;  it  is  fitted  to  the  universe  in 
which  it  finds  itself."  ^  Yet  he  would  not  absolutely  ex- 
clude intellect.  He  therefore  defines  belief  as  "the  men- 
tal assent  to  the  reality  of  a  given  object.  This  assent 
may  be  either  articulate  or  inarticulate, — it  may  be  the 
mere  immediate  feeling  [sic]  of  reality  not  as  yet  ques- 
tioned, or  it  may  be  the  more  self-conscious  acceptance 
of  the  object  as  real  after  doubt  [sic]  has  made  the 
possibility  of  its  non-reality  conceivable."  ^ 

These  are,  he  thinks,  the  general  features  of  belief. 
Professor   Pratt,   however,   distinguished   three   types. 


^  Ibid.,  p.  22. 
*P.  23. 

'  P.  33.  "Inarticulate  belief"  he  identifies  with  Professor  Bald- 
win's "reality-feeling"  {Feeling  and  Will,  pp.  149  ff.),  accepting 
Bain's  view  that,  in  such  cases,  "we  believe  without  knowing  it." 
Professor  Pratt  acknowledges  in  the  Preface  his  indebtedness  to 
Professor  James.  In  the  pages  from  which  we  are  quoting  he 
follows  also  the  lead  of  Hume,  Bain,  and  Baldwin. 


The  Nature  and  Kinds  of  Faith,  113 

The  first  is  that  of  "primitive  credulity."  It  accepts 
as  "real"  whatever  is  presented  to  the  mind.  It  is 
characteristic  of  the  period  of  childhood,  but  is  more 
or  less  pronounced  throughout  the  whole  life  of  most 
men.^ 

Its  determining  motive  is  authority.  This  "author- 
ity" is  not  necessarily  an  attribute  of  persons.  Like 
Professor  Baldwin,  he  extends  it  to  things.  Hence 
what  is  directly  presented  to  us  through  the  senses  we 
"believe ;"  we  do  not  "know"  it.  We  believe  it  because 
it  is  the  only  thing  presented.  It  has  no  rival  claimant. 
Hence  no  doubt  of  it  can  arise  in  the  mind.  In  criti- 
cism we  may  say  that  such  a  view  must  consistently 
lead  to  skepticism.  It  would  limit  the  sphere  of  cer- 
tainty to  conscious  phenomena.  As  to  the  cause  of 
these  facts  and  processes,  as  to  our  own  individuality, 
as  to  the  reality  of  objects  other  than  our  own  impres- 
sions, we  could  have  only  a  "feeling."  Professor  Bald- 
win even  applies  the  term  "reality-feeling"  ^  to  this 
"inarticulate  belief."  Tenets  such  as  these  are  utterly 
inconsistent  with  Catholic  doctrine.  St.  Paul  teaches 
that  "faith  cometh  by  hearing."  ^  We  must  be  able, 
therefore,  under  fixed  conditions,  to  attain  certainty 
through  our  senses.  Nor  is  this  all.  For  the  message 
of  the  preacher  must  be  interpreted  by  us.  This  kind 
of  "private  interpretation"  is  indispensable.  Hence 
our  intellect  must  likewise  be  a  source  of  certainty  both 


^Pp.  34  ff. 
^Loc.  cit. 
•  Rom.  X,  17, 


114  Faith  and  Its  Exercise. 

in  its  direct  perception  of  first  principles  and  in  the 
necessary  inferences  that  it  draws  from  them.  Hence 
it  is  that  Christian  faith  is  a  "reasonable  service"  ^ 
which  we  pay  to  God. 

The  solution  of  the  difficulty  is  found,  at  least  in 
part,  by  lessening  the  emphasis  placed  on  the  "feeling" 
aspect  of  consciousness  and  by  including  the  cognitive 
phase  which  is  present  at  the  very  same  moment.  How 
much  we  know  is  not  here  the  question.  What  is  really 
significant  is  the  fact  that  from  the  very  beginning  of 
our  conscious  existence  we  know  anything  at  all. 
Through  the  senses  we  become  directly  aware  of  ex- 
ternal reality,  whether  that  reality  be  person  or  thing. 

Authority,  in  its  usual  and  more  restricted  sense, 
connotes  a  person.  When  "some  one's  authority  is 
consciously  used  as  a  definite  reason  for  belief,"  ^  then 
we  have  Professor  Pratt's  second  type.  "The  reliabil- 
ity of  any  reasoned  belief  will  depend,"  he  thinks,  "on 
the  nature  of  the  individual  reasoner."  Its  strength 
will  vary  with  the  degree  and  extent  to  which  it  is  "in- 
terconnected and  entwined  with  our  total  ^real'  world," 
i,  e,,  with  the  reality-feeling.^ — Such  an  interpretation 
makes  "reasoned  belief"  also  individual  and  subjective. 
It  differs  from  the  first  type  only  in  being  based  on 
some  form  of  argument.  The  argument  is  occasioned 
by  doubt,  by  the  possibility  that  the  belief  be  not  true. 
It  is  not  easy  to  see  how  such  a  "religion  of  thought"  * 


*  Rom.  xii,  1. 

2  Op.  cit.,  p.  37. 
•P.  40. 

*  Pp.  43,  44. 


The  Nature  and  Kinds  of  Faith,  115 

can  produce  allegiance  to  a  church  or  creed.  More- 
over, the  importance  attached  to  the  stage  of  doubt 
seems  like  an  echo  of  the  Cartesian  methodic  doubt,^ 
and  would  seem  to  be  equally  futile  with  Descartes' 
method,  as  a  means  of  attaining  certainty. 

The  third  type  considered  is  "emotional  belief."  It 
draws  its  strength  from  the  "field  of  vital  feeling."  ^ 
It  is  an  "instinctive  conviction  of  the  existence  of  a 
satisfaction  for  the  various  organic  desires. 
Nor  is  this  use  of  the  term  'belief  in  any  way  an  ex- 
tension of  its  strict  meaning.  It  is  literally  'the  mental 
attitude  of  assent  to  the  reality  of  a  given  object.' 
The  object  in  these  cases  is  the  thing  which  will  satisfy 
the  need  or  impulse."  ^  What  the  organism  demands 
must  be  real,  must  exist  somewhere,  because  the  organ- 
ism needs  it.  The  appropriateness  that  marks  the  in- 
stinctive reactions  of  the  organism  has  a  parallel  in 
the  "wisdom"  which  belongs  to  instinctive  beliefs, — 
those  beliefs  in  which  "the  feeling  background  voices 
the  demands  of  the  organism."  Such  beliefs  are 
"hardly  to  be  eradicated  by  argument,"  for  they  go 
deep  down  into  the  "organic  and  biologic  part  of  us."  * 
— ^This  third  type  is,  therefore,   also   subjective   and 


^  Cf .  John  Rickaby,  S.  J.,  First  Principles  of  Knowledge;  J. 
Balmes,  Fundamental  Philosophy,  Vol.  I,  Chaps.  XVII,  XVIII, 
XIX. 

^  Op.  cit.,  p.  40.  Professor  Pratt  adds  (p.  41):  "Emotion  often 
so  increases  the  vividness  of  an  idea  and  adds  to  it  so  much 
reality-feeling  as  to  give  it  almost  the  overpowering  force  of  an 
immediate  sense-presentation." — This  statement  is  quite  Hume-an  I 

'  Pp.  41,  42. 

*Pp.  42,  48. 


116  Faith  and  Its  Exercise, 

variable.  As  such  it  is  lacking  in  a  prime  essential  for 
genuine  social  co-operation;  viz.,  an  objective  standard 
of  truth,  an  ideal  that  is  not  dependent  on  instinctive 
cravings,  a  law  that  is  binding  on  man  as  a  '^rational" 
animal — a  law,  therefore,  that  claims  the  submission 
of  his  whole  being,  not  of  his  feelings  and  emotions 
only,  but  likewise  of  his  intellect  and  will.  Is  it  neces- 
sary to  add  that  all  three  of  Professor  Pratt's  types 
of  belief  refer  explicitly  to  the  order  of  nature  only, 
making  no  clear  distinction  between  human  faith  and 
divine  faith?  Practically  also  they  assume  that  man, 
not  God,  is  the  author  and  finisher  of  religious  belief.^ 
Moreover,  not  all  instinctive  tendencies  are  to-day 
beneficial  to  the  individual  or  the  race.  If,  then,  it  is 
necessary  to  "inhibit"  or  to  modify  any  of  them  in  their 
functions,  how  are  we  to  know  that  "religious  belief" 
is  not  of  that  number.?  ^  Some  there  are  to-day  who 
look  upon  religion  simply  as  a  necessary  restraint  for 
the  uncultured,  the  rude  and  ignorant.  In  their  eyes  it 
is  a  "negative"  force.  For  the  cultured  it  must  give 
way  to  philosophy,  as  in  Cicero's  time ;  ^  or,  if  you  wish 
to  pay  deference  to  the  time-spirit,  it  must  yield  to 


^Contrast  with  St.  Paul's  text  (Heb.  xii,  2):  "Looking  on  Jesus, 
the  author  and  finisher  of  faith." 

^  "The  time  is  coming  and  is,  I  believe,  not  far  distant,  when  this 
inner  experience,  this  spiritual  [?]  insight,  will  be  recognized  as 
the  only  sure  basis  [sic]  of  religious  belief."    Pratt,  op.  cit.,  p.  303. 

'  On  the  difference  between  the  Catholic  Church  and  a  School  of 
Philosophy,  see  Brother  Azarias,  "Aristotle  and  the  Christian 
Church,"  pp.  15-20,  in  Essays  Philosophical  On  the  inadequacy 
of  Philosophy  as  a  substitute  for  Religion,  see  T.  W.  Allies, 
Formation  of  Christendom,  Vol.  I,  passim,  who  also  gives  a  good 
sketch  of  Cicero's  mental  attitude,  ibid.,  pp.  175-180. 


The  Nature  and  Kinds  of  Faith,  117 

science.  In  either  case,  the  result  is  a  reversion  to 
pagan  ideals  and  a  pagan  attitude  of  mind.  Hence  as 
Christians,  nay,  even  as  men,  it  is  our  duty  to  reject 
the  principles  on  which  such  religious  belief  is  based. 
Belief  must  be  something  more  than  "a  lively  idea  re- 
lated to  or  associated  with  a  present  impression."  ^  It 
must  be  objective  as  well  as  subjective.  To  be  divine, 
it  must  refer  explicitly  to  the  God  from  whom  it  comes. ^ 
The  view  of  religious  belief  which  we  have  been  ex- 
amining, is  implicitly  accepted  by  many  educators  to- 
day. It  is  for  this  reason  that  we  have  devoted  so  much 
space  to  its  consideration.  Moreover,  it  has  social 
consequences  which  are  matter  for  grave  concern  to  the 
individual.  They  affect  the  tone  of  the  school  which 
he  attends  as  child  or  youth;  they  leave  their  impress 
on  the  society  of  which  as  man  he  is  a  citizen.  Sooner 
or  later  they  influence  the  time-spirit,  whose  atmos- 
phere he  is  compelled  to  breathe.  Were  our  concern 
chiefly  philosophical,  it  would  be  necessary  to  take  ac- 
count of  Pascal,  Maine  de  Biran,  and  the  Traditional- 
ists, who,  in  their  zeal  for  religious  faith,  restricted  the 
lawful  exercise  of  reason  within  its  own  domain ;  of  Sir 
William  Hamilton,  who  asserted  that  we  could  not 
"know"  the  Infinite,  although  it  was  a  necessity  and  a 
duty  to  "believe"  in  it ;  of  Immanuel  Kant,  who,  divorc- 
ing "pure  reason"  from  "practical  reason,"  affirmed 
that  we  could  not  attain  to  "knowledge"  of  God  by  the 

^  Hume,  Treatise  on  Hwman  Nature,  p.  96. 

2  Olle-Laprune  {De  la  Certitude  Morale,  p.  182)  describes  Fichte 
as  "fired  with  the  passion  of  Pascal  and  inspired  with  the  poesy 
of  Plato"  in  his  Bestirrmmng  des  Menschen  (Destination  of  Man). 


118  Faith  and  Its  Exercise, 

former,  yet  had  the  duty  of  faith  in  Him  imposed  on 
us  by  the  latter,  operating  through  the  voice  of  con- 
science; of  Fichte,  who  accentuated  and  exaggerated 
the  same  subjective  attitude;  of  Herbert  Spencer,  who 
limited  the  object  of  faith  to  the  Unknowable,  and  thus, 
by  a  stroke  of  the  pen,  lopped  off  all  religious  duties; 
of  John  Stuart  Mill,  who,  rejecting  religious  dogma  as 
an  illusion,  would  substitute  an  ideal  social  service;  of 
Alexander  Bain,  who,  deriving  faith  from  the  "foun- 
tains of  human  feeling"  alone,  looked  upon  it  merely  as 
"a  mode  of  consoling,  cheering  and  elating  emotion"; 
or  finally,  of  William  James,  who  has  warned  us  that 
it  is  "only  when  they  forget  that  they  are  hypotheses 
[sic]  and  put  on  rationalistic  and  authoritative  pre- 
tensions, that  our  faiths  do  harm."  ^ 


^The  following  may  be  given  as  references:  1.  Blaise  Pascal, 
Pensees;  C.  Kegan  Paul,  The  Thoughts  of  Blaise  Pascal.  2.  F. 
Maine  de  Biran,  Journal  intvme;  N.  E.  Truman,  Maine  de  Biran's 
Philosophy  of  Will.  3.  "Traditionalism,"  G.  M.  Sauvage,  C.  S.  C. 
Catholic  Encyclopedia;  John  Rickaby,  First  Principles  of  Knowl- 
edge. 4.  W.  Hamilton,  Lectures  on  Metaphysic  and  Logic;  Dis- 
cussions on  Philosophy.  5.  Immanuel  Kant,  Kritik  der  Reinen 
Vernunft;  Kritik  der  Praktischen  Vernunft;  J.  M.  Meiklejohn 
(tr.),  KanVs  Critique  of  Pure  Reason;  T.  K.  Abbott  (tr.), 
Kant's  Critique  of  Practical  Reason,  and  Other  Works  on 
the  Theory  of  Ethics.  Edw.  Caird,  Critical  Philosophy  of  Kant. 
6.  J.  G.  Fichte,  Die  Bestvrwmmig  des  Menschen;  Mrs.  Percy  Sin- 
nett  (tr.).  The  Destination  of  Man.  7.  Herbert  Spencer,  First 
Principles.  8.  J.  S.  Mill,  System  of  Logic;  Three  Essays^  on  Re- 
ligion. 9.  A.  Bain,  Emotions  and  Will;  Logic,  Deductive  and  In- 
ductive. 10.  W.  James,  The  Will  to  Believe;  Varieties  of  Religious 
Experience. 

On  Belief  in  general,  see  Francis  Aveling,  "Belief,"  Catholic 
Encyclopedia,  and  bibliography;  M.  Maher,  S.  J.,  Psychology, 
Chap.  XV,  "Judgment  and  Reasoning,"  under  which  caption  he 
treats  Belief. — On  Faith,  see  Hugh  Pope,  O.  P.,  Catholic  Encyclo- 
pedia, s.  v.,  and  bibliography;   E.  T.   Shanahan,   "Agnosticism," 


The  Exercise  of  Faith.  119 

Article  II, — The  Exercise  of  Faith, 

A  psychological  analysis  of  the  attitude  of  faith,  or 
spirit  of  faith,  will  help  us  to  form  an  appreciation  of 
its  pedagogical  value.  It  is  a  state  of  mind  in  the  pro- 
duction of  which  many  factors  must  have  concurred. 
As  it  is  in  part  social  in  origin,  so  it  is  also  social  in 
effect.  Like  other  mental  states  it  originates  in  sensa- 
tion; for  here  as  elsewhere  Aristotle's  dictum  is  valid: 
There  is  nothing  in  the  intellect  which  did  not  in  some 
way  first  exist  in  the  senses  (Nihil  est  in  intellectu  quod 
non  prius  fuerit  in  sensu).  As  in  art,  so  in  faith,  it  is 
the  senses  of  sight  and  hearing,  the  so-called  "intel- 
lectual senses,"  that  contribute  most  freely  to  the  mat- 
ter of  faith.  When  the  words  of  the  witness  have  been 
heard  or  his  written  statement  has  been  read,  the  intel- 
lect proceeds  to  interpret  the  message  in  the  light  of 
its  previous  experience.^  This  aspect  of  faith  reaches 
out  into  the  domain  of  criticism,  both  higher  and 
lower.  The  process  of  interpretation  is  necessarily 
affected  by  the  present  disposition  of  the  individual  be- 
liever, his  "personal  equation."  ^  This,  in  turn,  is  a 
product  of  many  subtle  influences  streaming  in  from 


Catholic  Encyclopedia  and  bibliography;  L.  0116-Laprune,  De  la 
Certitude  Morale.  Though  mentioned  by  neither  Father  Aveling, 
nor  Father  Maher,  0116-Laprune  gives  a  thorough  and  philosophic 
study  of  the  nature  and  conditions  of  "belief"  as  well  as  of 
"faith."  His  book  deserves  to  be  better  known.  He  refers  to 
Cardinal  Newman's  Orammmr  of  Assent,  which  he  values  highly. 
For  a  systematic  and  sympathetic  treatment  of  Newman's  atti- 
tude, see  Henri  Br6mond,  S.  J.,  Newman:  Psychologie  de  la  Foi. 

*  See  below,  pp.  294  if. 

'  See  below,  pp.  216  fP. 


120  Faith  and  Its  Exercise, 

the  past,  registered  not  only  in  plastic  brain  cells,  but 
also  in  definitely  formed  association  tracts, — in  a  word, 
in  all  those  cerebral  states,  conditions,  and  connections 
by  which  the  influence  of  environment  on  organism  and 
mind,  and  the  conscious  adaptation  of  both  body  and 
mind  to  environment,  have  been  gradually  made  over 
into  the  physiological  basis  of  what  we  call  "habit." 

Prominent  among  these  activities  are  the  multiple 
associations  of  imagination  and  memory  and  instinct. 
The  very  complexity  of  the  act  of  faith,  therefore,  re- 
garded even  as  a  mere  exercise  of  interpretation,  should, 
on  purely  psychological  grounds,  be  a  warning  against 
all  hasty  conclusions  as  to  the  pedagogical  value  of 
faith,  be  these  conclusions  favorable  or  unfavorable. 
Here,^  too,  we  first  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  amazing 
tangle  of  psychological  difficulties  which  the  process  of 
"religious  conversion,"  considered  merely  as  a  natural 
phenomenon,  must,  in  some  way,  involve.  So  many 
habits  of  mind  and  lines  of  conduct  must  be  done  away 
with;  so  many  threads  of  association,  the  warp  and 
woof  of  years,  must  be  separated  ere  conversion  is  af- 
fected, that  it  is  not  surprising  if  hesitation,  regret, 
reluctance,  timidity,  even  dismay,  should  long  precede 
that  last  step  which  has  been  called  the  "final  plunge." 
Cardinal  Newman's  experience  as  recorded  in  his 
Apologia  is  an  apt  illustration. 

Coincident  with  the  act  of  interpretation  is  the  act 
of  confidence  or  trust  in  another  which,  as  we  have  al- 
ready seen,^  is  contained  in  the  root-meaning  of  faith. 

^P.  106. 


The  Exercise  of  Faith.  121 

An  act  of  faith  is  an  act  of  trust  in  the  witness  on 
whose  authority  we  rely.  As  such  it  is  an  act  of  re- 
spect and  courtesy,  and  by  its  very  essence  tends  to 
strengthen  the  natural  bonds  by  which  men  are  held 
together  in  society.  From  the  viewpoint  of  psychology 
and  pedagogy  it  is  also  of  great  significance;  for  it  is 
a  fact  of  daily  experience  as  well  as  of  psychological 
experiment  that  sympathy  with  another  is  an  indis- 
pensable condition  for  penetrating  and  understanding 
his  mind.  All  this,  it  is  true,  is  contained  in  the  very 
meaning  of  sympathy.  Yet  the  principle  in  question 
is  in  accordance  with  sound  psychology,  and,  like  all 
such  principles,  reacts  on  sociology,  particularly  in  its 
educational  phase.  Thus  Bainvel  notes:  "Faith,  which 
has  already  done  me  so  many  services,  is  ready  to  serve 
still  more.  By  it  I  am  enabled  to  unite  my  mind  to 
the  minds  of  those  who  know,  and  thereby  appropriate 
what  they  know."  ^  Here  we  reach  a  truth  that  not 
only  touches  the  rudiments  of  education,  but  likewise 
includes  the  mental  attitude  of  every  specialist,  when, 
for  instance,  at  a  meeting  of  scientists,  he  listens  with 
critical  attention  to  the  report  presented  by  the  great- 
est "authority'^  among  his  confreres.  Here,  too,  we 
enter  the  field  of  "interest,"  which  occupies  so  large  a 
place  in  recent  pedagogical  literature,  whether  from 
the  viewpoint  of  mental  development  or  of  motivation 
and  discipline.     Its  scope  is  extensive — reaching  from 


^  "La  foi,  qui  m'a  rendu  d6jk  tant  de  services,  est  prete  k  m'en 
rendre  davantage  encore.  Par  elle,  je  puis  unir  mon  esprit  k 
I'esprit  de  ceux  qui  savent,  et  ainsi  m'approprier  ce  qu'ils  savent." 
La  Foi  et  Vacte  de  Foi,  p.  24. 


122  Faith  and  Its  Exercise, 

the  content  and  arrangement  of  the  curriculum,  the 
value  of  method,  and  the  principles  of  vocational  guid- 
ance, to  the  most  efficient  social  service  for  which  the 
school  can  train  a  child.  In  other  words,  the  scope  of 
the  interest  aroused  by  faith  is,  at  least  potentially, 
universal ;  for  it  springs  from  man's  social  nature,  and 
that  is  essential  to  man  as  man. 

The  acceptance  of  a  thing  as  true  also  stirs  our  feel- 
ings, affections,  and  emotions.  These  psychical  states 
may  arise  from  two  sources:  viz.,  from  our  attitude 
toward  the  fact  or  principle  accepted  as  true,  and  from 
our  attitude  toward  the  person  on  whose  word  we  ac- 
cept the  fact  or  principle.  Sometimes  these  two 
streams  converge,  and  then,  especially  when  they  favor 
the  fact  or  principle  and  person,  the  tide  of  emotion 
may  break  down  all  the  barriers  of  restraint  or  inhibi- 
tion and  issue  in  epoch-making  action.  Such  an  in- 
stance was  Christ's  triumphal  entry  into  the  city  of 
Jerusalem  on  the  first  Palm  Sunday;  such  also,  to  take 
a  purely  human  example,  the  enthusiasm  aroused  by 
St.  Bernard  when  preaching  the  Second  Crusade.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  fire  of  pas  ion  may  be  fanned  into 
flame  by  the  wild  breath  of  emotion,  and  then  death  and 
devastation  mark  the  course  of  the  conflagration.  Such 
scenes  were  witnessed  during  the  French  Revolution. 
Both  cordial  acceptance  and  indignant  rejection  of  a 
principle  lie  within  the  compass  of  genuine  faith.  The 
excesses  that  mark  the  overthrow  of  reason  in  either 
man  or  group  are  phenomena  that  belong  to  the  realm 
of  social  psychology. 


The  Exercise  of  Paith.  1^3 

The  deeper  the  emotion  entering  into  any  specific 
act  of  faith,  the  greater  the  eifect  wrought  on  the  mind 
and  heart  of  the  believer.  This  consideration  intro- 
duces a  new  aspect  of  association,  for  by  subsequent 
like  acts,  or  by  subsequent  repetitions  of  the  same  act, 
the  intellect  gains  a  deeper  insight  into  the  truth  ac- 
cepted, while  the  emotions,  although  not  proportion- 
ately intensified,  are  nevertheless  appreciably  rein- 
forced. These  factors  are  of  great  significance  in  the 
building  up  of  habit ;  for  deep  and  appropriate  emotion 
must  be  joined  to  frequent  and  regular  repetition  of  acts 
if  habit  is  to  yield  its  best  results.^  Furthermore,  habit 
is  a  natural  bridge  between  the  theoretical  and  the 
practical.  However  much  ideas  may  tend  to  express 
themselves  in  action,^  it  is  still  true  that  a  purely  spec- 
ulative attitude  of  mind  results  eventually  in  what  we 
may  designate  "atrophy"  of  the  power  of  expression.^ 
Hence  it  is  that  educators  accept  the  maxim:  "We 
learn  to  do  by  doing."  But  they  do  not  give  sufficient 
conscious  recognition  to  the  parallel  principle:  "We 
learn  to  know  by  doing."  Yet  the  principle  is  at  least 
as  old  as  Christianity,*  and  has  its  psychological  basis 
in  the  unitary  character  of  the  human  mind.  On  the 
one  hand,  it  is  implied  in  every  consistent  theory  of 


^  See  below,  pp.  248-275. 

'  The  Ideo-motor  Theory  emphasizes  this  tendency. 

'  An  excellent  illustration  of  this  truth  is  found  in  Henry  James' 
"The  Madonna  of  the  Future,"  Reverberator  and  Other  Tales; 
also  included  in  the  Passionate  Pilgrim  and  Other  Tales, 

*Matt.  vii,  24. 


1^4  Faith  and  Its  Exercise, 

emotions;^  for  our  mental  states  are  produced,  or  at 
least  accompanied,  by  appropriate  organic  states.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  is  a  fact  that  the  expression  of  a 
thought  not  only  develops  the  mind,  it  also  perfects 
our  comprehension  of  the  thought.  Hence  it  follows 
that  a  life  spent  in  "the  living"  of  noble  thoughts  must 
yield  an  abundant  harvest  of  whatever  is  best  in  man. 
The  Apostle  might  well  say :  "Be  ye  doers  of  the  word, 
and  not  hearers  only,  deceiving  your  ownselves."  ^ 

This  cumulative  attribute  of  thought,  when  expressed 
in  deeds,  is  not  confined  to  the  individual;  it  affects  his 
associates  also.^  In  this  respect  it  becomes  in  the  nat- 
ural order  a  kind  of  adumbration  of  that  mysterious 
and  inspiriting  source  of  spiritual  helps  which  Cath- 
olics speak  of  as  the  communion  of  saints.  The  be- 
lieve'r^s  behavior  affects  others,  even  if  they  be  not  of 
the  household  of  faith;  while  the  influence  of  others 
who  make  profession  of  his  own  creed,  whether  brought 
home  to  him  by  direct  physical  contact  in  frequent  in- 
tercourse, or  indirectly  through  the  pages  of  history 
and  literature,  through  works  of  Christian  art  or  even 
through  the  instrumentality  of  scientific  monographs. 


^  The  James-Lange  theory  of  emotion  holds  that  "the  bodily 
changes  follow  directly  the  'perception  of  the  exciting  fact,  and 
that  our  feeling  of  the  same  changes  as  they  occur  is  the  emotion" 
(James,  Principles  of  Psychology,  Vol.  II,  p.  449).  Professor 
Titchener  argues  that  evidence  is  against  the  theory,  and  con- 
cludes that  "we  cannot  regard  this  organic  commotion  either  as 
constitutive,  as  the  one  thing  necessary  to  emotion,  or  as  differ- 
ential, the  one  thing  that  marks  off  any  particular  emotion  from 
all  the  rest"  (Beginner's  Psychology,  pp.  221,  222). 

2  James  i,  22. 

'See  below,  p.  274. 


The  Exercise  of  Faith.  125 

reacts  on  his  own  conduct  and  strengthens  the  ties  that 
bind  him  to  his  faith.  This  phase  of  the  question  brings 
us  into  the  very  thick  of  imitation, — a  fascinating 
study  of  the  psychologist  and  sociologist,  it  is  true ;  but 
long  known  to  those  outside  the  pale  of  science  under 
the  more  prosaic  name  of  "example."  These  "express- 
ive" values  of  faith  would  be  impossible  without  the 
co-operation  of  the  will.  As  we  have  already  seen,^ 
faith  affords  a  less  complete  and  less  direct  knowledge 
of  its  object  than  does  science.  This  very  defect,  how- 
ever, gives  the  opportunity  for  the  will  and  the  emo- 
tions, when  directed  by  enlightened  reason,  to  offer 
their  homage  to  the  truth  attested  and  to  the  authority 
of  the  witness.  It  is  this  aspect  that  is  so  important 
an  element  in  divine  faith,  and  gives  to  the  act  of  assent 
its  quality  of  merit,  making  it  pre-eminently  a  human 
act  {actus  humanus),  Man's  need  of  faith  is  proof 
that  he  is  a  social  being,  just  as  his  social  nature  makes 
imperative  the  preservation  of  his  faith.  This  is  a 
phase  of  the  question  not  to  be  lost  sight  of  in  discuss- 
ing social  efficiency  as  the  great  aim  of  education. 

So  far  we  have  considered  the  elements  that  enter 
into  an  act  of  faith,  whether  human  or  divine;  viz., 
sensation,  imagination  and  memory,  judgment  and  rea- 
soning, apperception  and  habit,  feeling,  sentiment  and 
emotion,  volition  and  its  outward  expression  affecting 
both  the  individual  and  the  group  of  which  he  is  a 
member.  (While  this  is  true  of  both  human  faith  and 
divine,  it  applies  in  a  more  eminent  way  to  the  exer- 

^  P.  107. 


126  Faith  and  Its  Exercise, 

cise  of  divine  faith.  Therefore  we  shall  henceforth  limit 
ourselves  to  the  consideration  of  divine  faith.  This  far 
surpasses  human  faith  in  its  origin,  God  himself ;  in  its 
motive,  God's  veracity;  in  its  object,  truths  pertaining 
to  the  salvation  of  man ;  in  its  end  and  aim,  the  ever- 
lasting happiness  of  man;  and,  we  may  add,  in  its 
faculty,  viz.,  the  intellect  perfected  by  infused  virtue.^ 
It  therefore  follows  that  in  a  much  fuller  sense  than 
that  expressed  by  Paul  Janet,  divine  faith  is  really  and 
indeed  an  act  of  "the  whole  man." 

.From  the  very  comprehensiveness  of  the  "act"  of 
faith,  it  follows  that  the  "habit"  of  faith,  abiding,  vital- 
izing faith,  must  permeate  man's  whole  existence, — not 
his  mental  and  moral  life  only,  but  his  organic  life  as 
well.  It  is  the  whole  man  that  believes ;  it  is  the  whole 
man  that  aims  to  make  his  conduct  consistent  with  his 
belief.  This  marks  a  high  stage  in  the  process  of  char- 
acter-building.    But  since  faith  involves  the  exercise  of 


^Cf.  Cardinal  Newman  {Grammar  of  Assent,  pp.  186,  187),  who 
after  noting  the  "intrinsic  integrity  and  indivisibility"  of  the  as- 
sent included  in  the  act  of  faith,  goes  on  to  say  that  these  at- 
tributes do  not  "interfere  with  the  teaching  of  Catholic  theology 
as  to  the  pre-eminence  of  strength  in  divine  faith,  which  has  a 
supernatural  origin,  when  compared  with  all  belief  which  is 
merely  human  and  natural.  For  first,  that  pre-eminence  consists, 
not  in  its  differing  from  human  faith,  merely  in  degree  of  assent, 
but  in  its  being  superior  in  nature  and  kind,  so  that  the  one  does 
not  admit  of  a  comparison  with  the  other;  and  next,  its  intrinsic 
superiority  is  not  a  matter  of  experience,  but  above  experience. 
Assent  is  ever  assent;  but  in  the  assent  which  follows  on  a  divine 
announcement,  and  is  vivified  by  a  divine  grace,  there  is,  from 
the  nature  of  the  case,  a  transcendent  adhesion  of  mind,  intel- 
lectual and  moral,  and  a  special  self -protection,  beyond  this  opera- 
tion of  those  ordinary  laws  of  thought,  which  alone  have  a  place  in 
my  discussion." 


The  Exercise  of  Faith.  127 

the  will,  it  includes  also  the  exercise  of  choice  and  there- 
fore the  rejection  of  alternatives  after  the  choice  has 
been  made.  This  rejection  necessarily  entails  also  the 
exclusion  of  the  natural  corollaries  or  consequences  of 
the  alternatives  ruled  out;  and  so  the  "practice"  of  faith 
comes  to  include  also  a  prevision  of  future  conditions, 
an  attitude  of  expectancy,  a  state  of  readiness.  More 
obviously,  however,  the  action  of  the  will  in  rejecting 
alternative  measures  and  forbidding  their  execution 
brings  us  face  to  face  with  "inhibition."  ^  Some  form 
of  inhibition  is  indispensable  in  all  connected  thinking 
and  particularly  in  all  close  reasoning.^  In  the  realm 
of  divine  faith,  it  means  the  rejection  of  facts  or  prin- 
ciples contrary  to  the  revealed  truth  contained  in  the 
dogmas  of  the  Catholic  Church.  When  it  is  dynamic, 
and  therefore  expressed  in  deeds,  it  inhibits  or  seeks  to 
inhibit  all  conduct  opposed  to  the  principles  of  faith. 
It  is  true  that  this  aspect  of  faith  is  sometimes  made 
the  ground  of  bitter  attack.  It  is  looked  upon  as  in- 
compatible with  openness  of  mind,  with  the  spirit  of 
research,  with  zeal  for  enlightenment  and  progress. 
The  objection,  however,  rests  on  a  false  assumption. 
Just  as  the  mathematician  accepts  the  axioms  and 
would  reject  with  scorn  all  doubt  of  their  truth  and 
validity,  if  such  a  doubt  were  to  occur  to  him;  as  the 
psychologist  by  his  hours  of  patient  experiment  in  the 
laboratory   increases    and    confirms   his   knowledge    of 


^  See  below,  pp.  229,  247,  264,  262  f .,  287. 

*Cf.    Brother   Azarias,   "Aristotle   and   the   Christian   Church" 
(pp.  83-86),  in  Essays  Philosophical. 


1S8  Faith  and  Its  Exercise, 

mental  phenomena;  so  the  typical  Catholic  being  cer- 
tain of  the  truths  taught  him  by  his  Church,  feels  no 
more  hampered  by  them  in  his  mental  development  than 
does  the  mathematician  admit  being  cramped  by  the 
axioms ;  or  the  psychologist  by  the  laws  of  conscious 
processes.  As  Donat  has  well  said,  faith  being  a  cer- 
tainty for  the  believer,  cannot  produce  conflict  in  his 
mind/  The  objection  is  a  proof  of  bad  psychology. 
The  one  who  raises  it  virtually  imputes  to  the  believer 
his  own  unbelieving  attitude  of  mind  together  with  and 
in  union  with  the  believer's  attitude  toward  science.  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  the  two  states  do  not  coexist  in  the 
same  mind.  The  believing  attitude  is  found  in  the 
Catholic  together  with  the  acceptance  of  the  estab- 
lished data  and  principles  of  the  science  which  he  is 
pursuing.  The  unbelieving  attitude  exists  in  another 
mind,  and,  it  must  be  confessed,  sometimes  perverts  or 
distorts  issues  and  principles  that  should  be  kept  rigidly 
within  the  proper  domain  of  science. 

The  function  of  inhibition  as  contained  in  the  habit 
of  faith  is  to  perfect  the  spiritual  life  of  the  individual 
and,  through  the  individual,  of  the  group.  Under  cir- 
cumstances of  stress  and  grievous  trial,  its  value  in  this 
direction  may  be  manifested  in  the  heroism  of  martyrs, 
who  become  for  all  subsequent  ages  models  of  fidelity 
to  principle,  of  loyalty  to  duty.^     Apostasy,  even  in 


*  "Faith  does  not  restrain  the  mental  freedom  of  one  who  is 
convinced  of  the  truth  of  his  faith."  The  Freedom  of  Science, 
p.  112. 

^This  suggests  an  important  social  aspect  of  inhibition.  Cf. 
Matt.  V,  21-48. 


The  Exercise  of  Faith.  129 

such  times,  is  not  an  exercise  of  inhibition ;  it  is  rather 
proof  of  its  absence,  an  indication  of  extreme  moral 
weakness.  In  the  milder  times  of  peace,  the  inhibitive 
function  of  faith  may  be  daily  exercised  in  preventing 
the  habit  of  faith  from  degenerating  to  the  level  of 
mere  routine  performance  of  spiritual  duties.  In  this 
way  it  happens  that  faith,  even  on  its  inhibitive  side 
reaches  out  to  the  co-ordination  of  activities,  to  asceti- 
cism and  discipline.  For  faith  is  growth,  and  there  is 
no  vigorous  growth  without  pruning. 

It  is  necessary  to  bear  in  mind  this  comprehensive- 
ness of  the  activities  involved  in  the  exercise  of  divine 
faith,  because  this  seems  to  be  just  the  attribute  of 
.faith  which  is  commonly  overlooked  by  those  persons 
who  object  to  making  faith  a  dynamic  factor  in  school 
life.  In  view  of  their  pedagogical  significance,  we  may 
classify  the  aspects  or  activities  of  faith  under  the  two 
general  heads  of  scientific  and  aesthetic,  or  cultural, 
values.  The  scientific  aspect  of  faith  appears  not  only 
in  the  demonstration  of  principles  by  which  the  Cath- 
olic Church  as  witness  to  divine  faith  establishes  her 
claim  to  a  divine  mission  to  teach  men  the  way  of  salva- 
tion, but  also  in  the  setting  up  of  standards  on  the  plane 
of  the  supernatural  by  which  we  may  measure  the  ac- 
curacy and  confirm  the  truth  of  the  cognate  funda- 
mental principles  that  belong  to  the  natural  order. 
For  the  Catholic  Church  consistently  teaches  that 
"grace  supposes  nature"  and  is  its  complement.  It  is  a 
mistake  to  say  that  such  standards  embarrass  the  in- 
tellect and  impede  the  progress  of  learning.     As  well 


130  Faith  and  Its  Exercise. 

might  we  say  that  standard  units  in  physics,  or  uniform 
standards  in  like  psychological  experiments,  bar  the 
advance  of  physical  or  mental  science.  In  science  it  is 
conceded  that  uniformity  of  standard  is  an  aid  to  prog- 
ress, if  not  indeed  its  condition.  In  this  respect  at 
least,  the  present  generation  profits  by  the  hard-won 
victories  of  preceding  ages.  Figuratively  speaking,  it 
stands  on  the  shoulders  of  the  past  and  peers  into  the 
future.  Must  the  very  spirit  of  the  method  in  which 
science  takes  so  much  pride  be  imputed  to  faith  for  a 
sin  when  it  helps  to  confirm  the  claims  of  faith.'' 

Since  faith  as  a  habit  ^  must  be  expressed  in  action, 
for  otherwise  the  habit  would  perish;  faith  as  a  body 
of  dogmatic  truth  has  its  complement  in  faith  as  a 
moral  code.  In  this  relation,  too,  faith  sets  a  stand- 
ard of  values,  for  each  of  "the  faithful"  is  exhorted  to 
approximate  the  model  set  by  his  divine  Redeemer. 
Being  a  wise  teacher,  deeply  versed  in  human  nature, 
the  Church  sets  before  her  children  the  various  copies 
of  the  perfect  Model  made  by  men  of  all  ages  and  na- 
tions, whom  she  calls  "saints,"  and  who,  because 
weighted  with  human  weakness,  may  more  quickly  elicit 
from  mortal  man  the  indispensable  condition  of  all  hu- 
man development  and  therefore  of  all  education, — 
interest. 

But  interest  may  wane.  The  acts  that  were  per- 
formed with  such  deliberation  and  enthusiasm  in  build- 
ing up  the  habit  of  faith  may  fall  to  the  level  of  mere 
routine   phenomena.      What    resources    has    faith   for 


'  On  Habit,  see  below,  pp.  248-276. 


The  Exercise  of  Faith.  131 

averting  such  disaster?  It  is  a  principle  accepted  by 
scholastic  philosophers,  that  things  are  conserved  by 
the  causes  that  produced  them.  This  principle  is  im- 
plied in  all  the  genetic  psychology  of  our  day ;  for  it  is 
the  philosopher's  way  of  expressing  a  law  of  growth 
and  development.  As  far  as  the  individual  alone  is  con- 
cerned, the  chief  means  at  his  disposal  is  meditation,^ 
as  we  have  already  seen.  When,  however,  he  is  con- 
sidered as  a  member  of  the  Church,  he  has  not  merely 
the  help  afforded  by  authorized  teachers,  but  also  the 
immense  benefits  to  mind  and  heart  resulting  from  the 
rites  and  ceremonies  that  attend  the  administration  of 
the  sacraments.  The  fundamental  Christian  truths ' 
whose  commemoration  is  noted  in  the  yearly  calendar, 
constitute  a  system  whose  perfection  science  might  well 
envy  and  can  only  remotely  copy;  v/hile  in  the  variety 
of  aspect  which  they  present,  these  truths  afford  an 
excellent  model  to  the  teacher.  It  is  in  this  latter  re- 
spect that  they  become  a  means  whereby  the  earnest 
Christian  may  keep  his  faith  strong  and  active.  "The 
old  in  the  new,"  the  discovery  of  the  old  principle  in  the 
new  manifestation,  is,  according  to  Professor  James,^ 
the  secret  of  vital  teaching.  For  this  reason,  too,  it  is 
a  sure  means  of  quickening  one's  faith. 

On  its  culture  side,  faith  is  also  stimulated  by  the 
influence  of  good  example,  and  by  the  natural  expres- 
sion of  faith  revealed  in  Christian  architecture,  paint- 
ing, sculpture,  music,  and  literature.     To  all  men,  in- 


'  See  above,  pp.  53,  57,  58.     Cf .  below,  pp.  281-309. 
*  Talks  to  Teachers,  p.  108. 


132  Faith  and  Its  Exercise. 

deed,  such  works  of  art  make  their  appeal,  but  it  is  only 
to  the  eye  of  faith  that  they  disclose  the  richness  and 
the  perfection  of  their  symbolism.  Psychology  gives  a 
reason  for  this  in  its  doctrine  of  apperception. 

We  may  now  summarize  this  article.  Faith  as  an 
act,  but  most  of  all  as  a  conscious  habit,  exercises  all 
our  psychical  activities  upon  noble  truths  and  lofty 
ideals.  It  therefore  exerts  a  comprehensive  pedagogi- 
cal influence  of  a  high  order.  This  ihfluence  possesses 
both  scientific  and  cultural  values.  Objections  against 
faith,  when  sifted,  are  generally  found  to  arise  from 
overlooking  or  ignoring  this  comprehensive  character 
of  faith.  As  a  corollary  to  these  principles  it  would 
seem  to  follow  that  any  institution  fitted  by  its  very 
nature  to  develop  such  faith,  deserves  well  of  society. 


CHAPTER  V. 


The  Pedagogicai.  Implications  of  Faith. 


Article  I, — The  Pedagogical   Value   of  Faith   Viewed 
Objectively. 

To  FORM  a  working  estimate  of  the  pedagogical  value 
of  faith  viewed  objectively  it  is  well  for  us  to  examine 
the  question  from  the  various,  though  related,  view- 
points taken  in  Chapters  I  and  II  of  Book  I ;  viz.,  aim, 
curriculum  and  method.  We  have  already  indicated 
what  is  meant  by  the  "spirit  of  faith."  The  topic  of 
curriculum  has  already  been  discussed  sufficiently  for 
our  purpose.^ 

From  the  standpoint  of  aim,  the  significance  to  the 
teacher  of  the  doctrines  of  divine  faith  is  this :  he  knows 
with  certainty,  on  the  authority  of  God's  own  word, 
that  all  men,  and  therefore  both  he  and  his  pupils,  are 
destined,  on  condition  of  their  free  and  full  co-opera- 
tion, to  attain  everlasting  happiness.  It  is  therefore 
his  duty  and  his  privilege  as  an  educator  to  select  such 
subjects,  to  employ  such  methods,  and  to  follow  such 
gradations  as  will  best  secure  the  attainment  of  this 
ultimate  end  of  man.  By  this  standard  also  he  is  en- 
abled  to   judge    the   worth    of    systems    of   education, 


'  See  above,  pp.  11-16,  43-50. 

133 


134       The  Pedagogical  Implications  of  Faith. 

whether  ancient  or  modern.  In  the  light  of  this  prin- 
ciple, moreover,  he  can  appraise  so-called  educational 
"fads"  and  "reforms."  In  this  age  of  ours  when  we 
profess  to  obey  a  Pure-Foods  Commission  and  to  re- 
spect a  Standard-Weight  Commission,  can  we  reason- 
ably object  to  any  teacher  or  body  of  teachers  for  con- 
sistently striving  to  follow  a  standard  of  absolute 
values  for  the  life  of  man  as  man?  To  the  Catholic, 
our  whole  earthly  existence  is  but  a  training  school  for 
heaven. 

In  the  inevitable  reaction  against  the  excesses  of 
purely  elective  courses  of  study  in  school  and  college, 
there  has  arisen  a  more  insistent  demand  for  the  con- 
sideration and  correlation  of  the  studies  pursued  by  the 
individual  pupil.  Educators  realize  that,  from  the 
pedagogical  viewpoint,  he  is  only. a  potential  unit.  It 
is  their  high  privilege  to  help  weld  the  processes  of 
thought,  the  purposes  of  the  will,  and  the  pulses  of  the 
emotions  into  an  actual  unit  stamped  with  the  deepest 
traits  of  an  honorable  personality.  In  his  endeavor  to 
accomplish  this  result,  the  Christian  teacher,  and  more 
particularly  the  religious  teacher,  seeks  to  bring  home 
to  himself  and  to  his  pupils  the  conviction  that  the  un- 
remitting performance  of  daily  duties  is  the  matter  out 
of  which  man's  eternal  weal  is  fashioned.^  He  rejects, 
therefore,  as  false  the  conclusion  sometimes  drawn,  that 
attention  to  one's  higher  spiritual  interests  is  incom- 
patible with  complete  loyalty  to  one's  temporal  duties 
as  member  of  the  family  and  citizen  of  the  state.     He 


'Cf.  "Accommodation,"  p.  267,  below. 


Faith  Viewed  Objectively.  136 

maintains,  on  the  contrary,  that  the  highest  and  most 
enduring  motives  for  the  practice  of  the  domestic  and 
the  civic  virtues  are  to  be  found  precisely  in  the  sanc- 
tions of  religion. 

Moreover,  he  insists  that,  even  from  a  scientific  view- 
point, this  conscious  striving  for  a  supernatural  destiny 
exerts  a  most  valuable  educational  influence  on  his 
secular  studies  and  pursuits.  It  is  admitted  by  all 
teachers,  whether  religious  or  laymen,  that  in  the  early 
years  of  childhood  the  senses  and  the  play  of  the 
muscles  are  the  chief  feeders  of  the  growing  mind.  But 
with  each  succeeding  year  the  child  is,  largely,  nay 
chiefly,  through  the  processes  of  human,  if  not  divine 
faith,  trained  to  interpret  these  various  sense  impres- 
sions. In  this  way  is  he  initiated  into  the  scientific 
value  of  phenomena,  which  in  maturer  life  he  may  refer 
to  basic  principles  of  philosophy.  But  the  religious 
teacher  does  not  stop  here.  Holding  fast  to  the  doc- 
trine of  a  supreme  Creator,  he  looks  upon  the  phe- 
nomena and  the  laws  of  nature  as  expressions  of  the 
Creator's  mind.  The  things  of  sense,  their  interrela- 
tions as  perceived  by  the  trained  intellect,  the  deduc- 
tions of  thorough-going  science,  the  Weltanschauung 
or  cosmic  philosophy  which  harmonizes  all  these — each 
and  all  are  welcome  to  the  religious  teacher,  who  finds 
in  them  successively  a  fuller  revelation  of  the  mind  of 
God  as  expressed  in  the  Book  of  Nature.  He  is  certain 
that  there  can  be  no  real  "warfare"  between  genuine 
science  and  the  truths  of  revealed  religion.  The  seem- 
ing conflict  he  knows  will  end  when  due  allowance  is 


136       The  Pedagogical  Implications  of  Faith, 

made  for  the  ^'personal  equation,"  for  hasty  generaliza- 
tions, and  unverified  hypotheses/ 

His  attitude  may  be  explained  by  a  comparison. 
Just  as  the  physical  and  chemical  forces  which  the 
scientist  has  studied  in  the  inorganic  world,  acquire  a 
deeper  significance  for  him  when  he  investigates  their 
action  in  organic  life;  as  the  processes  of  metabolism 
"mean"  more  for  him  when  he  has  considered  their  in- 
fluence on  the  sensations  and  the  behavior  of  the  ani- 
mal ;  as  even  the  bodily  functions  which  are  the  concern 
of  the  physiologist,  affect  deeply  the  mental  and  moral 
life  of  man;  so  the  Christian  and  religious  teacher  is 
justified  in  combining  all  these  into  one  vast  synthesis 
with  the  order  of  grace.  As  divine  grace  completes 
nature,  so  the  natural  order  is  for  him  but  the  symbol, 
the  vesture,  the  body,  as  it  were,  of  the  supernatural. 
He  seeks  to  develop  the  apperceptions  befitting  his  po- 
sition as  a  Catholic  educator.  Has  he  warrant  for 
this?  Most  assuredly;  the  incarnate  Wisdom  of  God 
taught  him  this  lesson  in  the  sermon  on  the  Mount. ^ 
On  that  occasion  the  lilies  of  the  field  and  the  sparrows 
of  the  air  were  made  object-lessons  of  this  great  prin- 
ciple. This  very  association  of  the  highest  of  spiritual 
truths  with  the  commonest  of  natural  objects  is  a  most 
efficacious  means  of  making  divine  truth  fecund.^ 


^  See  A.  J.  Balfour,  The  Foundations  of  Belief,  pp.  313  fF. 
^  Matt,  vi,  26-31. 

'  Cf.  E.  A.  Pace,  "How  Christ  Taught  Religion,"  Catholic  Uni- 
versity Bulletin,  Vol.  XIV,  1908,  p.  8, 


Faith  Viewed  Subjectively.  137 

Article  11, — The  Pedagogical  Value  of  Faith  Viewed 
Subjectively, 

Since  methods  when  used  effectively  by  the  teacher, 
become  permeated  as  it  were  with  his  personality,  we 
may  best  inquire  into  the  pedagogical  value  of  faith 
viewed  subjectively  by  examining  what,  for  want  of  a 
better  name,  we  may  call  the  "method"  of  faith.  If  we 
look  for  an  illustration  of  our  meaning,  we  may  find 
one  to  serve  our  purpose  in  "Evolution."  Evolution  as 
a  system,  that  is,  as  an  organic  body  of  scientific 
truths,  is  not  to-day  accepted  by  all  men  without  chal- 
lenge or  reservation.  Evolution  as  a  method  of  investi- 
gation is  employed  extensively  and  profitably.  In  a 
somewhat  analogous  manner  we  may  speak  of  a 
"method"  determined  by  the  attitude  or  spirit  of  divine 
faith.  To  make  our  meaning  clearer  it  is  necessary  to 
remove  a  current  misunderstanding  and  to  correct  the 
error  which  this  misunderstanding  implies.  It  was 
pointedly  expressed  by  the  late  William  Torrey  Harris, 
then  Commissioner  of  Education,  at  the  meeting  of  the 
National  Education  Association  held  in  Boston  in 
1903: 

"The  principle  of  religious  instruction  is  authority;  that  of  secu- 
lar instruction  is  demonstration  and  verification.  It  is  obvious 
that  the  two  principles  should  not  be  brought  into  the  same  school, 
but  separated  as  widely  as  possible."  ^ 

Dr.  Harris'  zeal  here  carried  him  too  far.  The  prin- 
ciple of  all  instruction,  whether  secular  or  religious, 
implies,  in  the  beginning,  authority  on  the  part  of  the 

^Proceedings,  1903,  p.  363. 


138       The  Pedagogical  Implications  of  Faith. 

teacher  and  faith  on  the  part  of  the  pupil.  Even  the 
divine  Teacher  of  mankind,  engaged  in  imparting  to 
them  truths  of  the  gravest  import  for  both  time  and 
eternity,  and  making  use  of  methods  that  even  His  in- 
finite wisdom  saw  to  be  best  suited  to  the  mental  and 
moral  capacity  of  His  auditors,  did  not  hesitate  to 
make  use  of  the  principle  of  authority.  The  evangelist 
assures  us  that  "He  taught  as  one  having  authority, 
and  not  as  their  Scribes  and  Pharisees."  ^  Further- 
more, the  principle  of  authority,  with  its  correlate  of 
faith,  continues  to  exercise  some  sway  over  the  whole 
period  of  man's  mental  and  moral  development,  whether 
the  man  be  unlettered  or  learned,  whether  he  be  dullard 
or  genius.  Even  the  greatest  geniuses  in  the  most  exact 
of  sciences  must  take  much  on  faith  in  the  very  depart- 
ment in  which  their  originality  is  most  strikingly  mani- 
fested. As  for  the  experimental  scientist,  every  time 
he  performs  a  satisfactory  experiment,  he  makes  an  act 
of  faith  in  the  reliability  of  the  apparatus  which  he 
uses,  the  external  conditions  under  which  he  operates, 
and  the  constancy  of  the  laws  which  control  the  func- 
tions of  his  body  and  mind  while  he  is  experimenting. 
It  is  impossible  for  man  to  do  without  faith.  If  he  be 
deprived  of  the  true  faith,  he  will  adopt  or  invent  a 
false  one.^ 

But  authority  is  not  the  only  principle  of  instruc- 
tion, much  less  of  education,  in  either  religion  or  secular 


^Matt.   vii,  29. 

2  This  thought  has  been  well  developed  by  F.  Bruneti^re  in  "Le 
Besoin  de  Croire,"  Discours  de  Combat,  I,  pp.  302,  308,  310. 


Faith  Viewed  Subjectively.  139 

branches.  Religion  calls  for  demonstration  also.  When 
divine  faith  seeks  entrance  into  the  human  soul,  she 
comes  with  all  due  credentials.  It  is  by  these  creden- 
tials that  she  establishes  her  claim  to  our  hospitality. 
Once  admitted  as  guest  within  our  interior,  she  speed- 
ily becomes  a  member  of  the  family,  if  we  are  loyal  to 
our  duty,  and  rewards  us  by  imparting  greater  pene- 
tration to  the  intellect,  greater  strength  to  the  will,  and 
greater  purity  to  the  emotions  of  the  heart.  We  have 
already  seen  that  the  initial  act  of  the  intellect  involved 
in  faith  becomes  under  the  impulse  of  the  heart  and  will 
a  higher  and  more  penetrating  act  of  the  intellect. 
Paul  Janet  even  speaks  of  faith  as  "a  complex  result 
into  which  enter  instinct,  education,  envil*onment,  re- 
flection, sensibility,  imagination, — in  a  word,  the  entire 
man."  ^  The  validity  of  the  credentials  of  faith  is  a 
matter  of  investigation  and  verification. 

In  the  address  from  which  we  have  quoted,  Dr, 
Harris  emphasizes  the  part  played  by  sense  and  imagi- 
nation in  developing  the  child's  religion.  He  includes 
even  the  symbolic  aspect  of  religion.  He  does  not,  how- 
ever, seem  to  realize  that  the  understanding  of  re- 
ligious symbols,  rites,  and  ceremonies,  as  such,  entails 
comparison,  abstraction,  judgment,  and  reasoning — 
all  acts  of  intellect.  But  the  most  serious  misappre- 
hension, the  special  occasion  of  the  antithesis  between 
religion  and  the  secular  branches — and  this  is  almost 


*  "Elle  est  im  result  at  complexe,  dans  lequel  entrent  I'instinct, 
r^ducation,  le  milieu,  la  reflexion,  la  sensibility,  Pimagination,  en 
un  mat  I'homme  tout  entier."  Principes  de  mMaphysique  et  de 
psychologie,  t.  I,  p.  72,  cited  by  S.  Harent,  S.  J.,  loc.  cit. 


140       The  Pedagogical  Implications  of  Faith, 

equivalent  to  saying  between  religion  and  science — is 
the  implied  restriction  of  religion  in  school  to  mere  in- 
struction; that  is,  to  a  body  of  doctrine  to  be  taught. 
As  we  have  already  seen,  faith  itself  is  an  act  of  the 
whole  man.  What  we  have  called  the  ''method"  of 
faith  is  not  merely  training  in  a  doctrinal  system  to  be 
learned;  it  is  also  discipline  in  a  code  of  morals  to  be 
kept,  initiation  into  a  life  to  be  lived.  The  "method" 
of  faith,  the  method  of  Catholic  education  which  the 
religious  novitiate  applies,  is  fundamental  in  the  devel- 
opment of  the  Christian  life.  The  words  of  Thomas  a 
Kempis  leave  no  room  for  doubt  or  equivocation  on  this 
point  : 

"He  that  would  fully  and  feelingly  understand  the  words  of 
Christ  must  study  to  conform  his  whole  life  to  the  life  of  Christ."  ^ 

Within  the  last  ten  years  a  pronounced  reaction  has 
set  in  against  the  dominance  of  a  purely  intellectual- 
istic  concept  of  education.  This  reaction  is  manifest 
in  the  increasing  demand  for  supervised  playgrounds, 
for  motor  and  manual  training,  for  greater  laboratory 
facilities,  and  for  vocational  preparation.  The  Cath- 
olic Church  maintains  that  our  life  here  on  earth  is  a 
great  training  school  for  life  everlasting;  that  each  of 
us  has  delicate  and  daily  experiments  to  perform  in  the 
laboratory  of  his  own  nature;  that  each  experiment 
brought  to  successful  issue  equips  us  to  meet  the  greater 
problems  of  the  morrow;  and  that  in  this  laboratory 
of  the  Christian  life  our  great  teachers  are  the  saints 
of  God.     This  is  admitted  by  Dr.  F.  W.  Foerster  : 

^Imitation,  Bk.  I,  Chap.  I,  2. 


Faith  Viewed  Subjectively,  141 

"From  this  point  of  view  the  saints  are  of  imperishable  im- 
portance in  the  world  of  education.  They  illuminate  and  demon- 
strate the  teaching  of  Christ  in  many  and  varied  directions,  at  the 
same  time  linking  it  up  with  human  life."  ^ 

In  this  broader  and  truer  concept  of  the  Catholic 
faith,  self-denial,  mortification  and  asceticism  are  seen 
to  exercise  an  important  function  and  to  be  undeserv- 
ing of  the  obloquy  that  has  often  attached  to  them.  To 
quote  again  from  Dr.  Foerster: 

''^Asceticism  should  he  regarded,  not  as  a  negation  of  nature  nor 
as  an  attempt  to  extirpate  natural  forces,  but  a>s  practice  in  the 
art  of  self -discipline.  Its  object  should  be  to  show  humanity  what 
the  human  will  is  capable  of  performing,  to  serve  as  an  encourag- 
ing example  of  the  conquest  of  the  spirit  over  the  animal  self. 
The  contempt  which  has  been  poured  upon  the  idea  of  asceticism 
in  recent  times  has  contributed  more  than  anything  else  toward 
effeminacy.  Nothing  could  be  more  effective  in  bringing  humanity 
back  to  the  best  traditions  of  manhood  than  a  respect  for  the 
spiritual  strength  and  conquest  which  is  symbolized  in  ascetic 
lives." » 

The  "method"  of  faith,  therefore,  consists  in  (1) 
the  hearty  acceptance  of  revealed  truth,  (S)  the  shap- 
ing of  our  daily  conduct  so  as  to  agree  with  these  prin- 
ciples, (3)  the  assimilating  of  our  feelings  and  emo- 
tions,— those  great  motive  forces  of  our  deeds, — to  the 
inner  spirit  of  divine  truth.^  This  is  the  method  by 
which  the  novice  is  trained.  The  Catholic  Church  holds 
that,  in  due  measure,  this  method  is  to  be  applied  in  all 
Catholic    schools    and    to    all    subjects.      The    author 


^Marriage  and  the  Sex  Problem   (tr.  Meyrick  Booth),  p.   133. 

'Op.  cit,  p.  128. 

"  See  below,  pp.  260-271. 


142       The  Pedagogical  Implications  of  Faith, 

whom  we  have  just  quoted  expresses  the  idea  in  these 
terms : 

"As  is  well  known,  it  was  the  Franciscan  movement  which  gave 
rise  to  the  so-called  Third  Order:  the  members  of  this  order  were 
permitted  to  live  in  the  world,  to  carry  on  business  and  to  marry; 
but  they  were  required  at  the  same  time,  through  specific  vows,  to 
honour  the  saints  to  whom  their  order  was  dedicated,  and  they 
were  enjoined  throughout  their  economic  and  family  life  never  to 
lose  sight  of  the  spiritual  destiny  of  man.  This  Third  Order  sym- 
bolises the  influence  of  the  ascetic  ideal  upon  real  life;  it  shows 
the  manner  in  which  this  ideal  provides  our  earthly  existence  with 
an  access  of  power — not  the  least  of  its  services  being  the  strength- 
ening of  the  individual  spirit  against  the  confused  world  of  human 
instincts  and  feelings."  ^ 

There  is  another  aspect  of  this  "method"  of  faith 
which  should  appeal  to  such  educators  as  endeavor  to 
secure  equal  opportunities  for  all.  Abraham  Lincoln  is 
credited  with  saying:  "The  Lord  must  have  loved  the 
common  people  very  much :  He  made  so  many  of  them." 
Any  method  in  education  that  tends  of  its  own  nature 
and  by  its  own  merits  to  ennoble  the  life  of  the  com- 
mon people,  is  deserving  of  consideration.  There  is 
matter  for  pertinent  thought  in  these  lines  from  Dr. 
Foerster,  although  he  is  directly  applying  them  to  the 
"nursing  profession" : 

"There  are,  of  course,  numbers  of  self-sacrificing  characters  out- 
side the  Orders.  But  the  Orders  understand  how  to  inspire 
mediocre  characters,  and  to  educate  them  in  a  magnificent  fashion 
to  an  almost  superhuman  degree  of  self-sacrifice.  And  the  main 
reason  for  this  superiority  on  the  part  of  the  Catholic  sisters  is 
the  vow  of  voluntary  celibacy:  in  the  first  place,  it  puts  the  nurses 
in  quite  a  different  position  with  regard  to  the  patients  and  doc- 


^Id.,  op.  cit,  p.  133. 


Faith  Viewed  Subjectively,  14}3 

tors;  they  cease,  indeed,  to  be  women,  and  become  sisters;  and, 
moreover,  they  have  put  away  the  idea  of  leading  lives  of  their 
own  outside  the  hospital.  This  gives  them  a  wholeness,  dignity, 
and  sacredness  which  they  would  not  otherwise  be  able  to  acquire. 
Here,  again,  we  perceive  the  deep  relationship  between  social  serv- 
ice and  the  ascetic  ideal — the  close  connection  between  the  capacity 
for  the  greatest  sacrifice,  and  a  form  of  retirement  from  the 
world;  we  see  that  only  those  who  have  left  the  'natural  man' 
entirely  behind  are  able  to  do  the  best  work  in  many  spheres  of 
life." ' 

It  has  been  said  that  to-day  science  claims  the  right 
to  enter  every  domain  of  thought  and  action  and  there 
impose  its  laws  and  methods.^  May  we  not  make  a  like 
claim,  and  with  at  least  equal  justice,  for  religion  and 
its  method,  the  "method  of  faith"  ?  But  this  is  not  all ; 
for  science  owes  faith  a  tardy  act  of  acknowledgment 
and  gratitude.  Were  it  not  for  the  manly  discipline 
imposed  on  self  by  the  Christian  religion,  progress  in 
science  would  have  been  impossible,  and  the  scientific 
attitude  unattainable.^  The  scientific  spirit,  as  we  un- 
derstand the  term  to-day,  was  unknown  to  the  nations 
of  pagan  antiquity.  It  was  by  his  diligent  considera- 
tion and  due  acknowledgment  of  the  rights  of  others 
that  the  Christian  student  was  held  in  restraint ;  it  was 
his  sense  of  duty  to  God  that  helped  to  curb  his  bursts 
of  passion;  it  was  his  conviction  that  mineral,  plant, 
and  animal  are  all  creatures  of  God  that  developed  in 
him  an  unselfish  interest  in  their  nature  and  functions; 


*  Op.  cit.,  footnote,  pp.  142,  143. 

*Yet  see  Balfour,  op.  cit,  pp.  92,  93. 

'  Du  Bois  Reymond,  Die  Kulturgeschichte  und  Naturwissen^ 
schaft  (Leipzig,  1378),  quoted  by  Foerster,  Schule  und  Charakter, 
p.  12. 


144       The  Pedagogical  Implications  of  Faith. 

it  was  his  apperception  of  them  as  ''souvenirs"  of  the 
Creator  and  traces  of  His  presence,  that  sustained  his 
patience  and  fed  his  perseverance.  In  a  word,  it  was 
Christianity  that  made  possible  that  loyalty  to  truth, 
that  patient  elimination  of  all  disturbing  factors  which 
is  essential  to  the  success  of  either  investigation  or  ex- 
periment. Let  us  amend  Dr.  Harris'  statement.  Let 
us  proclaim  a  treaty  of  peace  between  religion  and 
secular  studies,  between  faith  and  science.  The  Chris- 
tian faith  has  made  modern  science  possible. 

In  virtue  of  its  "method"  the  Christian  faith  is  also 
the  basis  of  modern  culture.  The  movement  takes  its 
origin  in  the  example  and  the  authority  of  the  Saviour 
Himself : 

"I  give  you  a  new  commandment :  That  you  love  one  another  as 
I  have  loved  you :  .  .  .  By  this  shall  all  men  know  that  you  are 
My  disciples,  if  you  have  love  one  for  another."  ^ 

Commenting  on  the  text,  "Liberty,  Equality,  Fra- 
ternity," Brunetiere  shows  ^  that  wherever  the  realities 
flourish  they  are  the  flower  of  Christian  teaching  and 
practice.  Sociologists  call  attention  to  the  fact  that 
culture  seems  more  effective  than  religion  in  forming 
"groups"  at  the  present  day.  The  tendency  is  in  har- 
mony with  the  disposition,  which  is  rather  widely  mani- 
fested, to  take  the  ethical  fruits  of  Christian  teaching, 
but  to  reject  the  dogmatic  tree  on  which  they  grew.^ 


^  John  xiii,  34,  36. 

*  "Raisons   actuelles  de  croire,"  Disconrs  de   combat,  nouvelle 
s6rie. 

•  Cf.  F.  Brunetiere,  Discours  de  combat,  I,  p.  300,  note  I. 


Summary,  145 

So,  too,  men  delight  in  the  fruits  of  Catholic  culture, 
but  refuse  to  appreciate  the  Catholic  lives,  the  Catholic 
atmosphere,  of  which  that  culture  is  so  fitting  an  ex- 
pression. 

Article  III, — Summary, 

We  have  briefly  considered  the  nature  of  human  and 
of  divine  faith,  the  psychological  aspect  of  faith,  and 
the  difference  between  the  objective  and  the  subjective 
aspects  of  faith.  The  pedagogical  value  of  the 
objective  aspect  of  divine  faith  is  found  in  the 
comprehensive  and  fundamental  character  of  the 
truths  which  it  contains.  These  afford  standards  of 
value,  rules  of  conduct,  and  principles  of  motivation 
that  avail  for  the  leading  of  an  honorable  life  here  on 
earth  and  for  the  attainment  of  undying  happiness 
beyond  the  grave.  They  are  great  principles  of  cor- 
relation and  co-ordination. 

The  pedagogical  value  of  the  subjective  aspect  of 
divine  faith  is  seen  in  the  attitude  of  mind  which  it  de- 
velops, the  spirit  which  it  fosters.  This  spirit  is  marked 
by  a  detachment  from  the  material  things  of  life,  by  a 
refusal  to  be  subservient  to  instinct  and  passion.  This 
self-control  is  a  valuable  asset  in  the  prosecution  of 
scientific  research,  which  is  also  furthered  by  the  habit 
of  regarding  creatures  as  images  or  traces  of  the  Cre- 
ator. It  is  inconsistent  to  demand  the  fruits  of  thor- 
oughly Catholic  training,  viz.,  the  scientific  "temper'' 
and  the  quality  of  "culture,"  and  withhold  recognition 
from  the  very  principles  of  Christian  faith  and  conduct 
by  which  they  are  produced  and  conserved. 


146       The  Pedagogical  Implications  of  Faith. 

The  most  valuable  asset  of  the  efficient  teacher  is 
character  or  "personality."  Character  connotes  self- 
mastery,  and  a  spirit  of  sacrifice  which  is  more  than 
mere  altruism.  The  most  fruitful  source  of  both  these 
qualities  is  a  life  that  is  the  outgrowth,  the  unfolding, 
of  Christian  principles.  Such  a  life  the  Religious  No- 
vitiate aims  to  foster,  and  in  so  far  as  it  succeeds,  it 
imparts  to  the  novice  a  training  of  great  pedagogical 
significance. 

A  clear  view  of  the  nature  of  faith  and  more  particu- 
larly of  the  "spirit  of  faith"  which  the  Catholic  Church 
seeks  to  diffuse  in  all  her  schools,  helps  to  destroy  the 
illusion  that  religious  training  is  effected  by  the  prin- 
ciple of  authority  only  and  therefore  promotes  an  atti- 
tude that  is  hostile  to  the  scientific  temper.  Rather  is 
the  reverse  true,  that  religion  fosters  an  attitude  that 
favors  impartial  scientific  investigation.  Whoever  ap- 
preciates the  value  of  the  scientific  temper  and  of  gen- 
uine culture  ought  therefore  in  justice  to  concede  the 
pedagogical  value  of  that  virtue  of  faith  from  which 
they  both  have  sprung.  Since  it  deliberately  and  effi- 
ciently fosters  the  virtue  of  Faith,  the  Religious  No- 
vitiate exercises  a  genuine  pedagogical  mission. 


BOOK  III. 
PEDAGOGICAL  VALUES  OF  FAITH. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


Biological  Aspects  of  Faith. 


Article  I, — Fundamental  Concepts, 

For  a  score  of  years  biological  concepts  have  domi- 
nated educational  theory.  So  pronounced  has  been 
their  sway  that  within  this  period  not  a  few  educators 
would  seem  to  have  forgotten  that  man  is  something 
more  than  a  mere  organism.  As  a  natural  consequence, 
a  reaction  has  set  in,  and  to-day  there  is  manifest  a 
marked  tendency  to  emphasize  man's  social  relations.^ 
Since,  however,  every  society  is  composed  of  individ- 
uals, social  values  and  social  efficiency  must  depend  at 
least  remotely,  on  individual  worth,  and  proximately 


*  Cf.  J.  M.  Baldwin,  The  Individual  and  Society,  pp.  115-117 
and  passim.  A  fuller  exposition  of  his  fundamental  principles  is 
to  be  found  in  his  Mental  DevelopTnent  of  the  Child  anrvd  the  Race 
and  Social  and  Ethical  Interpretations.  This  tendency,  in  turn, 
may  also  become  extreme,  as  when  Bagley  (The  Educative 
Process,  p.  65)  writes  that  the  social  aim  of  education  includes  the 
"moral,"  because,  "generally  speaking,  the  moral  standard  is  the 
social  standard."  The  acceptance  of  such  a  principle  would  give 
one  a  standard  of  morality  changing  with  time  and  place,  a  stand- 
ard as  variable  indeed  as  fashions  in  dress.  Morality  must  be 
based  on  man's  essential  nature  and  therefore  on  the  unchanging 
source  of  that  nature,  viz.,  the  divine  Creator.  See  also  J.  M. 
Baldwin  (Social  and  Ethical  Interpretations,  p.  83),  "Morality  is 
in  its  origin  and  practical  bearing  a  social  thing."  This  is  very 
true,  provided  that  the  society  include  essentially  not  only  men 
but  their  Maker. 

149 


150  Biological  Aspects  of  Faith. 

on  the  co-operation  of  individuals.  In  order,  then,  to 
form  a  right  estimate  of  social  efficiency  as  an  end  of 
the  educative  process,^  it  is  necessary  to  begin  with  a 
study  of  the  capacity  of  the  individual.^  But  to  form 
an  adequate  idea  of  the  individual,  it  is  essential  to  con- 
sider him  from  the  successive  viewpoints  afforded  by  the 
various  planes  of  his  existence  and  activity.  These,  in 
the  purely  natural  order,  are  chiefly  the  biological,  the 
psychological,  and  the  sociological.  Since  the  prin- 
ciples of  biology  are  presupposed  by  both  psychology 
and  sociology,  it  is  in  accordance  with  sound  method 
to  begin  with  the  biological  aspects  of  education. 
Biology  is  the  science  which  studies  living  organisms, 


'  See  above,  pp.  79,  82. 

*A  further  justification  of  this  procedure  is  found  in  the  ac- 
ceptance of  the  so-called  "Recapitulation  Theory"  not  only  by 
biologists  at  large,  but  also  by  many  educators.  According  to 
this  principle,  the  individual  in  the  course  of  his  development  from 
the  simplest  and  earliest  stages  of  his  existence  up  to  complete 
manhood  passes  through  the  chief  epochs  which,  according  to  the 
theory  of  evolution,  have  marked  the  progress  of  the  human  race. 
As  the  development  of  the  individual  is  the  concern  of  the  science 
of  ontogeny,  while  the  development  of  the  race  is  the  subject-mat- 
ter of  phylogeny,  the  principle  is  conveniently  expressed  in  the 
formula  of  Haeckel:  "Ontogeny  recapitulates  phylogeny."  It  is 
to  be  noted  that  the  individual  is  conceived  of  as  merely  "re- 
capitulating"; that  is,  as  repeating  only  the  chief  phases  in  the 
supposed  development  of  the  race.  Moreover  the  recapitulation  is 
structural  only,  not  functional.  St.  Thomas  Aquinas  admits  onto- 
genetic development  (Summa  Theologica,  I,  q.  76,  a.  4,  PotentuF, 
q.  3,  a.  9).  Yet  cf.  J.  L.  Perrier,  Revival  of  Scholastic  Philosophy 
in  the  Nineteenth  Century,  pp.  98,  99;  T.  Harper,  Metaphysics 
of  the  School,  Vol.  II,  pp.  553,  561;  H.  Muckermann,  Catholic  En- 
cyclopedia, "Biology,"  II,  572;  J.  M.  Baldwin,  Mental  Development 
in  the  Child  and  the  Race,  Chaps.  I,  VII.  In  the  field  of  educa- 
tion, the  recapitulation  theory  has  culminated  in  the  Culture 
Epoch  theory,  which  is  now  discredited  by  the  best  educators. 


Fundamental  Concepts.  151 

whether  plant  or  animal.  It  investigates  their  origin, 
their  structure,  their  functional  activity,  and  their  de- 
velopment. The  study  of  their  origin,  which  Professor 
E.  G.  Conklin  considers  the  "greatest  biological  sub- 
ject" of  the  present  century,^  leads  directly  to  the  topic 
of  heredity,  with  its  recent  oifshoot,  the  so-called  sci- 
ence of  eugenics.  In  its  study  of  organic  structures, 
biology  builds  up  the  science  of  morphology;  in  its 
study  of  the  functions  of  living  bodies,  it  develops  the 
science  of  physiology.  Since  it  is  the  structure  that 
functions,  morphology  and  physiology  are  intimately 
related.  In  fact,  "function  and  structure  are  merely 
different  aspects  of  one  and  the  same  thing,  namely, 
organization."  ^    Function  ^  is  determined  by  two  great 

^Heredity  and  Environment  in  the  Development  of  Men, 
Preface. 

^Conklin,  op.  cit.,  p.  37. 

'  A  process  is  "a  complex  series  of  changes  tending  toward  a 
single  effective  result."  A  function,  on  the  other  hand,  is  a  spe- 
cies of  process.  It  is  a  "process  sufficiently  complex  to  involve  an 
arrangement  or  co-ordination  of  minor  processes,  which  fulfills 
a  specific  end  in  such  a  way  as  to  conserve  itself."  (J.  Dewey, 
Monroe's  Cyclopedia  of  Education,  s.  v.)  Thus  we  speak  of  the 
digestive  function,  the  function  of  the  nervous  system,  of 
the  senses  in  general,  of  sight  in  particular;  or  again,  the 
function  of  intellect  or  will.  (Cf.  Brother  Azarias,  Philoso- 
phy of  Literature,  Chap.  II,  "The  Function  of  Literature.") 
J.  M.  Baldwin  {Dictionary  of  Philosophy  and  Psychology)  is  too 
vague.  He  states  that  a  "function"  in  biology  is  "any  normal 
activity,  process,  or  performance  accomplished  by  an  organism 
or  an  organ."  A  "mental"  function,  he  adds,  is  "any  conscious 
process  considered  as  taking  part  in  a  larger  system  of  proc- 
esses." E.  B.  Titchener  (Primer  of  Psychology,  pp.  6,  7,  9)  con- 
trasts "processes"  with  "things";  the  latter  are  relatively  fixed 
and  permanent,  the  former  are  transient  and  changing.  So,  too, 
in  his  Beginners^  Psychology,  just  published  (1916),  replacing  his 
Primer,  he  writes:  "Nothing  could  well  be  more  misleading  as  a 


152  Biological  Aspects  of  Faith, 

influences:  one  intrinsic,  viz.,  heredity;  the  other  ex- 
trinsic, viz.,  environment,  the  collective  name  for  all 
those  influences  and  stimulations  from  without  which 
modify  the  organism  in  structure  or  function.  Both 
the  qualities  inherited  by  the  organism  and  the  func- 


name  for  mental  phenomena,  than  the  familiar  phrase  'states  of 
consciousness';  for  a  mental  state  is  something  relatively  stable 
and  permanent.  Mental  experiences  are  moving,  proceeding,  on- 
going experiences"  (p.  21).  According  to  Professor  Dewey 
("Function,"  Monroe's  Cyclopedia  of  Education)  "the  transfer  of 
the  conception  of  functions  from  biology  to  philosophy  is  a  mark 
of  a  general  tendency  (1)  to  substitute  a  dynamic  theory  for  a 
static  one;  (2)  to  place  ends  and  purposes  within  the  process  of 
life-experience  instead  of  outside  and  beyond;  and  (3)  to  empha- 
size the  continuity  of  the  process  of  development  through  bio- 
logical, psychological,  and  social  activities."  As  to  the  first  phase 
of  ihcr  tendency  noted  by  Professor  Dewey  there  can  be  no  doubt. 
The  second  phase  is  more  insidious,  for  it  may  include  the  dispo- 
sition to  look  upon  the  creature  as  self-sufficient  and  therefore 
upon  God  Himself  as  unnecessary  and  inconvenient.  As  of  old 
in  Bethlehem,  so  to-day  but  too  many  men  find  no  room  for  Him 
in  the  inn  of  this  planet  of  ours.  Since  man  is  a  creature,  it  must 
always  and  everywhere  be  true  that  the  full  meaning  of  his  nature 
can  never  be  found  in  himself  alone.  (Cf.  Bishop  UUathorne,  The 
Endowments  of  Man,  Chap.  I.)  That  can  be  grasped  only  when 
man  is  studied  in  his  relation  to  God.  His  dependence  on  his 
Maker  is  his  greatest  glory.  The  third  aspect  emphasized  by 
Professor  Dewey  lends  itself  too  easily  to  the  error  of  extreme 
evolutionism.  We  may  agree  with  Mark  Twain  that  cauliflower  is 
"cabbage  with  a  college  education,"  but  we  cannot  assent  to  John 
Locke's  doctrine  that  a  sense  representation  (he  calls  it  an  "idea," 
while  W.  Wundt  uses  the  term  "Vorstellung"  to  cover  both  sensile 
and  intellectual  representations)  may  be  developed  into  a  true  in- 
tellectual (and,  therefore,  spiritual)  concept.  The  essential,  in- 
eradicable distinction  between  the  two  is  well  brought  out  in 
Father  Clarke's  Logic  (Stonyhurst  Series),  pp.  97-139.  At  the 
same  time  he  indicates  clearly  how  the  sense  representation  is 
associated  with  the  concept  in  the  formation  of  the  latter.  By  way 
of  summary  it  may  be  said  that  the  acceptance  of  Professor 
Dewey's  third  aspect  as  given  above  leads  logically  to  the  rejec- 
tion of  the  spirituality  of  the  human  soul  and  therefore  to  the 
denial  of  an  essential  part  of  Christian  revelation. 


Fundamental  Concepts,  153 

tions  which  give  it  its  distinctive  character  are  revealed 
and  expressed  in  its  growth  and  development.  When 
the  latter  terms  are  used  with  precision,  ^'growth"  sig- 
nifies increase  in  the  number  and  size  of  the  living  cells, 
each  organism  coming  originally  from  a  single  cell. 
"Development,"  on  the  other  hand,  connotes  essentially 
a  higher  degree  of  perfection  in  the  cells  themselves  and 
an  increase  in  the  number  and  strength  of  the  connec- 
tions between  the  cells.  Growth,  then,  is  primaril}^ 
quantitative  increase,  whereas  development  implies 
greater  excellence  in  quality  and  more  perfect  organiza- 
tion. Growth  adds  to  the  bulk  of  the  organism;  devel- 
opment augments  its  power.  For  the  biologist  develop- 
ment is  invested  with  special  importance,  since  from  it 
alone  can  he  learn  both  the  inherited  traits  of  the  or- 
ganism and  the  results  wrought  in  it  by  environment.^ 
Inherited  traits  remain  mere  aptitudes  until  they  are 
acted  upon  by  suitable  environment.  Hence  it  is  that 
functional  activity  has  been  described  as  "response  to 
stimuli,"  whether  these  stimuli  be  external  or  internal. 
From  this  viewpoint,  "the  entire  process  of  develop- 
ment may  be  regarded  as  a  series  of  such  responses  on 
the  part  of  the  organism,"  the  kind  of  response  in  each 
case  being  determined  by  "the  nature  and  state  of  the 
organism  at  the  time  and  by  the  character  of  the 
stimulus."  ^ 


^  "Just  as  the  character  of  any  function  is  determined  by  the 
organism,  though  it  may  be  modified  by  environment,  so  the  char- 
acter of  development  is  determined  by  heredity,  .  .  .  though 
the  course  and  results  of  development  may  be  modified  by  envi-» 
ronmental  conditions."     Conklin,  op.  cit.,  p.  86, 

»ia.,  p.  327. 


154  Biological  Aspects  of  Faith, 

Heredity,  growth,  and  development  characterize  the 
organism  and  distinguish  it  from  inorganic  substances ; 
they  mark  the  dividing  line  between  bodies  that  are  liv- 
ing and  those  that  are  destitute  of  life.  Furthermore, 
these  characteristics  of  the  entire  organism  are  found 
also  in  its  structural  unit,  the  cell/  That  nucleated 
mass  of  protoplasm  which  we  call  a  cell  must,  therefore, 
hold  the  secret  of  organic  life. 

Man's  knowledge  of  the  intrinsic  nature  of  life  has 
advanced  but  little  since  Aristotle  defined  the  life  prin- 
ciple as  "the  first  act  (or  prime  perfection)  of  a  physi- 
cal organic  body  suitably  disposed  for  life."  ^  From 
this  definition  three  attributes  have  been  deduced  as 
proper  to  life,  whether  in  the  organism  as  a  whole  or 
in  each  of  its  cells,  viz.,  spontaneity,  immanence,  and 
plasticity.^ 

Biologists  of  our  day  prefer  and  use  the  terms  irri- 
tability, conductivity,  and  adaptation.  Irritability  is 
the  power  of  receiving  impressions  from  without,  such 
as  those  of  light  and  heat.    It  is,  of  course,  a  biological 


^  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  Rev.  John  Baptist  Carnoy,  founder 
of  the  School  of  Cytology  at  the  University  of  Louvain,  con- 
tributed so  largely  to  the  study  of  cell  life  that  he  may  almost  be 
regarded  as  one  of  the  founders  of  cytology.  The  very  term 
"cell"  has  monastic  associations,  since  the  term  was  first  used  by 
Thomas  Hooke,  an  Englishman,  in  1665.  He  had  been  greatly  im- 
pressed by  the  regular  arrangement  of  "cells"  in  a  piece  of  cork, 
which  reminded  him  of  the  cells  used  by  monks  in  their  monastery. 

^  De  Anima,  II,  i.  §6.  Cf.  William  Hammond,  Aristotle's  Psy- 
chology, pp.  44,  45:  Soul  is  "the  first  entelechy  of  a  natural  body 
endowed  with  the  capacity  of  life;"  Brother  Azarias,  "Aristotle 
and  the  Christian  Church"  in  Essays  Philosophical,  pp.  106  ff. 

^  Cf.  A.  Farges,  S.  S.,  La  Vie  et  V Evolution  des  Espdces,  pp. 
30-35. 


Fundamental  Concepts.  155 

basis  of  the  educative  process,  an  essential  requisite  in 
pupil  or  disciple,  if  he  is  to  learn  anything  from  nature 
or  from  his  fellows.  In  animal  life  the  cell,  or  group  of 
cells,  possessing  this  requisite  is  called  a  "receptor." 
The  impression  so  received  is  not  confined  to  the  point 
at  which  it  initiated — its  influence  is  felt  throughout 
the  cell,  which,  therefore,  must  have  the  power  of  con- 
ducting or  transmitting  the  original  impulse  and  thus 
producing  a  change  that  is  really  internal.  From  this 
viewpoint  the  cell  is  a  "conductor."  The  educator 
finds  in  this  process  another  biological  element  of  the 
learning  process,  and  therefore  a  factor  in  any  genuine 
study  on  the  part  of  the  pupil. ^  Lastly,  the  cell,  or 
organism,  has  the  power  of  so  reacting  to  the  external 
stimulus  as  to  adjust  itself  to  its  environment.  This 
process  is  essential  in  order  to  secure  to  the  organism 
fitness  for  survival  in  its  struggle  for  existence.  In 
virtue  of  this  exercise  of  activity  the  cell  is  termed  an 
"adjuster."  Here  is  found  the  biological  basis  of  be- 
havior and  conduct — a  phase  of  activity  emphasized  by 
the  school  of  psychologists  known  to-day  as  behavior- 
ists.^ 


^Cf.  J.  M.  Baldwin,  Handbook  of  Psychology,  Vol.  II,  pp.  7-17; 
Ladd  and  Woodworth,  Elements  of  Physiological  Psychology,  pp. 
16  ff.  Conklin's  statement  stands  in  essential  agreement  with  what 
is  written  above:  "All  the  general  functions  of  living  things  are 
present  in  the  germ  cells,  viz.,  (1)  constructive  and  destructive 
metabolism,  (2)  reproduction  as  shown  in  the  division  of  cells  and 
cell  constituents,  (3)  irritability,  or  the  capacity  of  receiving  and 
responding  to  stimuli."    Op.  cit.,  p.  37. 

^  For  a  temperate  statement  of  the  aims  of  Behaviorism  and  its 
significance  to  the  teacher,  see  Colvin  and  Bagley,  Human  Be- 
havior. For  more  sweeping  claims,  see  Prof.  J.  B.  Watson, 
Behavior,  Introduction  and  Chap.  I. 


156  Biological  Aspects  of  Faith. 

The  higher  forms  of  animal  life  are  all  characterized 
by  ^  marvelously  developed  nervous  system.  It  is  the 
special  business  of  biology  to  investigate  this  system, 
yet  because  the  nervous  system  is  an  instrument  of  even 
the  noblest  acts  of  intellect  and  will  of  which  man  is 
capable,  it  comes  also  within  the  domain  of  psychology. 
The  three  characteristics  of  the  cell  in  general  are  thus 
verified  and  raised  to  a  higher  plane  in  the  three 
general  functions  of  the  nervous  system  in  "receiving, 
registering,  and  reacting  upon  stimuli."  These  func- 
tions minister  directly  to  the  educative  process.  For 
it  is  the  "sensory"  system  that  receives  impressions ;  it 
is  the  "motor"  system  that  reacts  upon  them, — both 
being  largely  "peripheral" ;  that  is,  having  organs  that 
terminate  upon  the  outer  surface  of  the  animal  body. 
Registration,  on  the  other  hand,  is  effected  in  and  by 
the  "central"  system ;  that  is,  the  cerebro-spinal  divi- 
sion of  the  nervous  system.  Since  the  whole  organism 
is  developed  from  the  cell,  it  is  to  the  cell  that  biologists 
look  not  only  for  an  explanation  of  "development,"  a 
topic  of  surpassing  interest  in  education,  but  also  for 
the  solution  of  the  vexed  and  intricate  question  of 
"heredity."  ^ 

The  fundamental  topics  in  biology  that  concern  the 
educator  may  therefore  be  reduced  to  two:  heredity 
and  development.  But  the  second  of  these  always  pre- 
supposes the  first  and  the  limitations  placed  by  the  first. 


^So  Conklin,  op.  cit.,  p.  104:  "In  the  last  analysis,  the  causes 
of  heredity  and  development  are  problems  of  cell  structures  and 
functions." 


Fundamental  Concepts,  157 

What  we  are  to  understand  by  these  terms  may  now  be 
stated  in  the  words  of  a  biologist  whom  we  have  already 
quoted:  Heredity  is  "the  appearance  in  the  offspring 
of  characters  whose  differential  causes  are  found  in  the 
germ  cells.  Heritage  is  the  sum  of  all  those  qualities 
which  are  determined  or  caused  by  this  germinal  organ- 
ization. Development  is  progressive  and  co-ordinated 
differentiation  of  this  germinal  organization,  by  which 
it  is  transformed  into  the  adult  organization."  Al- 
though the  possibilities  of  man's  development  in  the 
natural  order  are  determined  by  heredity,  "they  rarely 
come  to  full  epiphany."  ^  Moreover,  the  developmental 
series  is  irreversible.  Whether  it  be  determined  by  en- 
vironment or  by  personal  choice,  or  both,  the  state  or 
act  that  now  prevails  excludes  forever  the  other  alter- 
native and  therefore  its  essential  consequences.  In 
biology,  as  in  faith  and  morals,  "What  things  a  man 
shall  sow,  those  also  shall  he  reap."  ^ 

According  to  certain  biologists,  the  greatest  social 
need  of  our  day  is  to  improve  the  physical  human  stock 
and  purify  the  hereditary  strain.^  Hence  the  vogue  of 
the  eugenic  movement.  It  is  well,  however,  to  pause 
here  and  ask  whether  the  Christian,  and,  with  greater 
reason,    the    religious,    life    have    anything    at    all    in 


^  Id.,  p.  475. 

^Gal.  vi,  8. 

^  "No  other  scheme  of  social  betterment  and  race  improvement 
can  compare  for  thoroughness,  permanence  of  effect,  and  cer- 
tainty of  results,  with  that  which  attempts  to  change  the  natures 
of  men  and  to  establish  in  the  blood  the  qualities  which  are  de- 
sired."   Conklin,  op.  cit.,  pp.  5,  6. 


158  Biological  Aspects  of  Faith, 

common  with  the  principles  of  heredity  and  develop- 
ment. 

Article  11, — Heredity, 

At  first  glance  it  would  seem  that  the  teachings  of 
the  Catholic  Church  have  little  connection  with  the  sci- 
ence of  biology.  Yet  we  should  be  far  from  justified 
were  we  to  draw  such  an  inference.  Did  not  the  Sa- 
viour Himself  tell  Nicodemus:  "Unless  a  man  be  born 
again  of  water  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  he  cannot  enter 
into  the  kingdom  of  God".'^  ^  He  announced  the  pur- 
pose of  His  mission  to  men  on  earth  in  the  words : 
"I  am  come  that  they  may  have  life,  and  may  have  it 
more  abundantly."  ^  In  like  manner.  He  said  of 
the  Father:  "God  so  loved  the  world  as  to  give  His 
only  begotten  Son;  that  whosoever  believeth  in  Him, 
may  not  perish,  but  may  have  life  everlasting."  ^  And 
at  the  most  solemn  period  of  His  mortal  life  He  estab- 


^John  iii,  6. — Since  the  societies  formed  by  men  are  modeled 
more  or  less  perfectly  on  the  pattern  of  the  great  society  of 
mankind  to  which  we  belong  by  nature,  admission  to  these  socie- 
ties came  in  the  figurative  language  of  the  Orient  to  be  expressed 
in  terms  of  birth.  Whoever  was  duly  admitted  was  said  to  be 
"born  again."  So  Cardinal  Wiseman,  who  adds:  "But  when  we 
discover  that  this  was  the  ordinary  figure  by  which  the  Pharisees 
themselves  expressed,  in  their  mystic  language,  the  act  of  becom- 
ing a  proselyte,  and  that  the  phrase  belongs  to  that  philosophy  and 
is  used  by  the  Brahmins  of  such  as  joined  their  religion;  we  at 
once  perceive  how  such  an,  obscure  phrase  should  have  been  well 
understood  by  the  person  to  whom  it  was  addressed."  Lectures 
on  Science  and  Revealed  Religion,  Vol.  II,  Lecture  II,  p.  227. 

*John  X,  10. 

"  John  iii,  16. 


Heredity.  159 

lished  the  sacrament  of  the  Holy  Eucharist  that  these 
words  of  His  might  be  verified  by  means  of  this  living 
and  life-giving  Bread/  The  Christian  and  the  religious 
may  well  agree  with  Professor  Conklin  that  "life  proc- 
esses are  everywhere  the  same  in  principle,  though  vary- 
ing greatly  in  detail" ;  ^  and  yet  read  into  the  statement 
a  deeper  meaning  than  is  suspected  by  the  author  of 
"Heredity  and  Environment."  For  the  Christian 
knows  that  when  a  child  is  to  be  received  into  the 
Church  by  baptism,  the  priest  puts  to  him  or  to  his 
sponsors  the  question:  "What  dost  thou  ask  of  the 
Church  of  God?"  "Faith,"  replies  the  child.  "What 
doth  faith  bring  thee  to?"  continues  the  priest. 
To  which  the  child  makes  answer,  "Life  everlast- 
ing." ' 

The  religious  can  recall  likewise  the  words  of  St. 
John  Baptist  de  la  Salle,  addressed  to  the  Brothers  of 
the  Christian  Schools,  in  the  meditation  which  he  wrote 
for  December  15th,  the  octave  of  the  feast  of  the  Im- 
maculate Conception  and  celebrated  in  the  Brothers' 
Institute  as  the  patronal  feast  of  their  novitiates  : 
"The  holy  vocation  to  which  God  has  been  pleased  to 
call  us,  is  our  mother.  The  novitiate  is  the  salutary 
and  mystic  womb  of  the  religious  life,  in  which  her 
novices,  who  are  her  children,  are  spiritually  conceived. 


^  "Panis  vivus  et  vitalis"  is  the  expression  used  by  St.  Thomas 
in  his  "Lauda  Sion,"  the  "Prose"  for  the  Mass  of  Corpus  Christi. 
Cf.  John  vi,  27-59;  Imitation,  Bk.  IV,  Chap.  XI. 

^P.  4. 

"  Cf.  Abb6  Gaume,  Catechism  of  Per  severance.  Vol.  II,  p.  401. 


160  Biological  Aspects  of  Faith, 

She  then  begets  them  to  Jesus  Christ,  as  St.  Paul  ex- 
presses it,  by  forming  them  to  a  truly  Christian  and 
religious  life."  ^ 

We  must,  however,  beware  of  assuming  that  the 
Christian  life,  the  life  of  grace,  the  life,  therefore,  of 
which  the  religious  makes  special  profession,  is  essen- 
tially one  with  physical  life,  the  life  of  the  human  body.^ 
Man  is  so  constituted  that  all  his  knowledge  takes  its 
beginning  in  the  senses,  and  even  his  most  sublime 
thoughts  bear  traces  of  this  humble  origin.  His  re- 
flections on  the  "supernatural,"  as  the  word  itself  be- 
trays, must  be  expressed  in  terms  of  the  natural.  Yet, 
by  means  of  certain  reservations,  restrictions,  and  mod- 
ifications, he  both  respects  his  own  limitations  and  safe- 
guards  the   interests   of   truth.      When,   therefore,   he 


^Meditations  for  Sundays  and  Festivals,  Vol.  II,  p.  736.  In  the 
French  one-volume  edition,  reprint  of  1882,  the  passage  is  found 
on  p.  240. — This  is  but  an  application  of  the  idea  common  to  all 
Catholics  when  they  speak  of  the  Church  as  their  Mother,  "our 
holy  Mother  Church."  The  concept  is  further  emphasized  by  the 
words  of  St.  Augustine:  "He  cannot  have  God  for  his  Father,  who 
will  not  have  the  Church  for  his  Mother." 

^  The  following  warning  is  not  out  of  place : 

"The  avenue  by  which  the  problems  of  life,  education,  and  re- 
ligion are  now  approached  is  the  biological.  The  *germ-theory'  is 
made  to  cover  everything  under  the  sun.  .  .  .  The  result  is  that 
we  find  ourselves  more  frequently  investigating  the  origin  and 
growth  of  things,  than  inquiring  into  their  nature  and  value. 
What  things  grew  out  of,  rather  than  what  they  have  grown  into, 
if  grow  they  ever  did  to  the  extent  imagined,  preoccupies  and 
monopolizes  attention.  .  .  .  When  extended  to  society,  religion, 
and  the  world  at  large  in  a  literal  biological  sense,  the  concept  of 
organism  is  employed  beyond  its  legitimate  sphere,  and  fills  the 
mind  with  much  ambiguity  and  false  suggestiveness." — Rev.  E.  T. 
Shanahan,  "The  Unconsidered  Remainder,"  Catholic  World,  Feb- 
ruary, 1914,  pp.  686-588. 


Heredity.  161 

forms  an  idea  of  the  life  of  grace  which  is  received  in 
baptism,  he  denies  to  it  the  imperfections  that  arise 
from  essential  dependence  on  matter.  This  mode  of 
reasoning  is  the  via  negationis  et  remotionis  of  the 
Schoolmen.  It  "removes"  from  the  concept  of  the 
higher  order  of  life  the  defects  that  belong  by  essence 
to  the  lower.  But  this  method  of  attaining  knowledge 
does  not  stop  here.  It  superadds  to  these  two  ele- 
ments a  third  (^via  eminentice) ,  which  ascribes  to  the 
higher  order  of  life  the  excellence  which  is  its  peculiar 
property,  because  of  its  more  perfect  nature.  There 
are,  therefore,  three  stages  in  forming  a  concept  of  the 
spiritual  life,  i.  e.,  the  life  of  grace.  To  these  must  be 
added  a  fourth,  in  order  to  frame  the  idea  of  "life  ever- 
lasting;" for  the  concept  of  life  everlasting  includes 
that  of  all  the  happiness  of  which  the  individual,  ac- 
cording to  his  state,  is  capable,  and  that  of  its  enduring 
and  imperishable  character.  In  other  words,  the  idea 
expressed  by  the  term  "life"  as  applied  to  physical  life, 
the  life  of  grace,  and  life  everlasting,  is  an  "analogous" 
idea.  If  it  be  asked.  Of  what  use  is  such  an  idea.^^  we 
reply,  in  the  words  of  Dr.  Sauvage,^  that,  after  a  reve- 
lation of  divine  truth  has  been  made  to  man,  "analogy 
is  useful  to  give  us  certain  knowledge  of  the  mysteries, 
either  by  comparison  with  natural  things  and  truths, 
or  by  consideration  of  the  mysteries  in  relation  with 
one  another  and  with  the  destiny  of  man."     Analogy 


^G.  M.  Sauvage,  C.  S.  C,  "Analogy,"  Catholic  Encyclopedia. 
Cf.  Oll^-Laprune,  op.  cit.,  pp.  101-106. — It  is  only  by  "analogy" 
that  unaided  reason  can  rise  from  the  creature  to  certain,  albeit 
inadequate,  knowledge  of  the  Creator. 


162  Biological  Aspects  of  Faith, 

is  our  way  of  going  from  the  lower  to  the  higher  order 
of  truth  and  reality. 

Not  only  is  the  notion  of  life,  as  so  understood, 
fundamental  in  the  doctrines  of  the  Catholic  Church, 
and  therefore  included  in  the  articles  of  the  Apostles' 
Creed;  but  the  idea  of  heredity  is  equally  emphasized. 
The  perfervid  statements  of  the  most  ardent  eugenists 
do  not  equal  in  gravity  and  significance  what  the  Cath- 
olic religion  teaches  concerning  the  nature  and  extent 
of  heredity  when  the  topic  is  viewed  from  the  Christian 
standpoint.  Heredity  lies  back  of  the  doctrine  of  orig- 
inal sin  and  the  fall  of  man,  and  therefore  also  back  of 
the  mysteries  of  the  Incarnation  and  the  Redemption. 

According  to  the  teaching  of  the  Catholic  Church, 
our  first  parents  were,  at  the  moment  of  their  creation, 
constituted  in  the  supernatural  order  and  the  state  of 
"original  justice."  They  were  thereby  raised  to  the 
dignity  of  adopted  children  of  God  Himself  and  made 
heirs  of  the  everlasting  kingdom  of  heaven.  They  were 
at  the  same  time  endowed  with  certain  extraordinary 
gifts  not  at  all  demanded  by  their  nature  as  human 
beings ;  such  as  great  penetration  of  intellect  and 
strength  of  will, — gifts  perfecting  the  soul;  exemption 
from  sickness  and  suffering,  which  perfected  the  body; 
and  control  of  the  passions  by  reason,  as  also  exemp- 
tion from  death — privileges  which  directly  affected  the 
intimate  union  between  soul  and  body.  By  his  sin  of 
unbelief,  pride  and  disobedience,  Adam  forfeited  not 
only  the  great  supernatural  gift  of  sanctifying  grace, 
but  also  those  extraordinary  privileges  which,  though 


Heredity,  163 

not  requisite  for  the  integrit}''  of  his  nature  as  man,  yet 
added  immeasurably  to  its  perfection,  and  so  made  it  a 
fitter  receptacle  for  divine  grace.  Henceforth,  as  every 
Catholic  child  is  taught,  man's  intellect  was  darkened, 
his  will  weakened,  his  body  liable  to  sickness  and  suffer- 
ing; the  "flesh,"  the  passions,  might  rise  against  the 
"spirit,"  the  reason  ;^  and  the  warfare  of  life  would 
terminate  only  with  death.^  And  the  sad  plight  of 
Adam  passed  also  to  his  children,  for  they  were  born 
to  him  after  his  sin.^  And  yet  the  infliction  of  this 
grievous  penalty  left  no  taint  upon  the  perfect  justice 
of  God,  who  but  took  away  the  gifts  of  supererogation 
which  He  had  freely  but  conditionally  bestowed,  nor 
upon  His  infinite  mercy,  for  the  sentence  of  condemna- 
tion and  punishment  was  followed  immediately  by  the 
promise  of  a  Redeemer  to  come.  Here  then  is  the  orig- 
inal question  of  heredity ;  here  is  the  primal  taint,  from 
which,  by  a  special  divine  intervention,  only  one  human 
being  has  ever  been  exempt.  And  what  remedy  does  the 
wisdom  of  God  offer  to  fallen  man,  what  means  does  He 


^  Cf .  Rom.  vii. 

•Job  vii,  1. 

•According  to  the  Council  of  Orange  (529),  Adam  transmitted 
to  the  whole  human  race  both  death  of  the  soul,  L  e.,  sin,  and  death 
of  the  body,  the  punishment  of  sin  (Cf.  S.  Harent,  S.  J.,  "Original 
Sin,"  Catholic  Encyclopedia).  Since  original  sin  is  essentially  neg- 
ative, consisting,  as  it  does,  in  the  privation  of  sanctifying  grace 
and  consequently  of  the  extraordinary  perfections  granted  on  the 
condition  of  corresponding  to  this  grace,  the  question  of  the  "trans- 
mission, by  generation,  of  acquired  characters"  does  not  enter 
into  our  discussion.  For  the  views  of  Weismann,  see  Thomson's 
Heredity;  for  those  of  the  Augustinian  abbot,  Gregor  Mendel,  see 
W.  Bateson's  Mendel's  Principles  of  Heredity. 


164  Biological  Aspects  of  Faith, 

design  to  "improve  the  human  stock,"  now  so  disas- 
trously affected  by  the  fruit 

"Of  that  forbidden  tree  whose  mortal  taste 
Brought  death  into  the  world  and  all  our  woe?"  * 

The  first  is  faith  in  the  promised  Redeemer,  who  is  to 
restore  to  man  the  supernatural  spiritual  heritage 
which  he  had  forfeited  by  sin.  For  the  Lord,  in  cursing 
the  serpent,  said:  "I  will  put  enmities  between  thee  and 
the  woman,  between  thy  seed  and  her  seed."  ^  Accord- 
ingly, "when  the  fulness  of  time  was  come,  God  sent  his 
Son,  made  of  a  woman,  made  under  the  law:  that  He 
might  redeem  them  who  were  under  the  law;  that  we 
might  receive  the  adoption  of  sons."  ^  Thus  it  came  to 
pass  that  through  Mary's  full  co-operation  with  the 
designs  of  God  in  the  redemption  of  mankind,  the  hered- 
itary graces  and  privileges  essential  for  salvation, 
which  had  been  forfeited  through  the  original  sin  of 
Adam  and  Eve,  were  now  in  some  measure  restored  to 
the  human  race.* 

From  these  teachings  of  the  Catholic  Church  we  must 

^Paradise  Lost.  On  the  Semi-Arian  tenets  of  Milton,  revealed 
in  the  "Ode  to  the  Nativity,"  as  well  as  in  his  epics,  see  Faber's 
Life  and  Letters,  pp.  206,  207. 

*Gen.  iii,  16. 

'Gal.   iv,  4,  5. 

*St.  Paul's  statements  are  explicit  (Rom.  v) :  "Being  justified 
therefore  by  faith,  let  us  have  peace  with  God  through  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ:  ...  by  one  man  sin  entered  into  this  world,  and 
by  sin  death:  and  so  death  passed  upon  all  men  in  whom  all  have 
sinned.  .  ,  .  But  not  as  the  offence,  so  also  the  gift.  For  if 
by  the  offence  of  one  many  died:  much  more  the  grace  of  God  and 
the  gift,  by  the  grace  of  one  man  Jesus  Christ,  hath  abounded 
unto  many." 


Merediiyi  165 

conclude:  1.  That  once  the  nature  of  man  has  been  im- 
paired by  sin,  there  is  no  earthly  power,  there  is  no 
created  agency,  to  restore  his  original  dignity.  2.  That 
the  mystery  of  the  Incarnation  with  its  complement, 
the  mystery  of  the  Redemption,  was  wrought  to  effect 
in  man  a  complete  regeneration — not  so  much  to  purify 
and  enrich  his  blood,  although  it  does  this  indirectly^ 
as  to  enlighten  his  mind  with  revealed  truth,  to 
strengthen  his  will  with  sacramental  helps,  to  give  him 
mastery  over  his  passions,  and  to  make  suffering  and 
death  meritorious  for  life  everlasting.  3.  That  man  is 
more  than  a  mere  organism.  Hence  it  is  that  the  re- 
pairing of  inherited  defects  can  never  be  effected  solely 
by  means  adequate  for  the  improvement  of  the  stock 
in  either  plant  or  animal.  Man  is  intelligent;  the 
means  employed  must  therefore  be  spiritual  and  not 
solely  corporal.  He  is  endowed  with  free  will ;  he  must 
therefore  make  use  of  adequate  means  and  use  them 
with  full  deliberation.^       But  all  men  are  called  to  be 


^  The  words  of  F.  W.  Foerster  are  pertinent  {Marriage  and  the 
Sex  Problem) :  "It  is  true  that  these  artificial  methods  [of  eugen- 
ists]  may  momentarily  relieve  much  suffering.  In  the  long  run, 
however,  according  to  their  own  inner  nature,  they  must  increase 
the  sum  total  of  human  suffering  in  every  sphere  of  life — for  their 
effect  is  immeasurably  to  increase  the  subjection  of  man  to  pas- 
sion and  artificial  sensuousness"  (p.  95).  And  again:  "The  almost 
miraculous  regenerative  power  with  which  Christianity  can  re- 
pair the  errors  of  human  weakness,  is  illustrated  with  peculiar 
clearness  by  the  effect  of  Christian  faith  upon  sexual  regeneration: 
leaving  outward  symptoms  on  one  side,  it  touches  primary  control 
causes;  it  arrives  not  at  counteracting  the  symptoms  of  degenera- 
tion, but  at  building  up  a  new  center  of  the  whole  personality.  It 
is  just  this  depth  and  simplicity  which  is  absent  from  the  reform- 
ing efforts  of  those  who  do  not  base  their  suggestions  on  genuine 
Christianity.     .     .     .     Religion  overcomes  the  danger  of  a  one- 


166  Biological  Aspects  of  Faith. 

followers  of  Christ  and  members  of  the  Church  which 
He  founded.  Therefore  lasting  race  improvement, 
while  coming  from  a  source  extrinsic  to  man, — that  is, 
from  God  Himself, — with  which  man  freely  co-operg.tes, 
will  be  realized  only  by  the  actual  acceptance,  on  the 
part  of  the  individual,  of  the  truths  taught  by  the 
Saviour,  and  the  daily  endeavor,  with  the  help  of  divine 
grace,  to  make  them  the  rule  of  his  conduct.  Now, 
divine  grace  is  obtained  by  prayer,  and  prayer  pre- 
supposes some  degree  of  faith  in  God. 

In  sum,  therefore,  the  Catholic  Church  includes  and 
has  always  included  what  is  best  in  the  movement  to 
improve  heredity ;  but  this  she  applies  on  the  plane  and 
in  the  sphere  of  the  supernatural  both  in  content  of 
doctrine  and  method  of  application,  securing  thereby 
results  of  far  greater  extent  and  permanence  than 
would  be  possible  in  the  purely  natural  order.  In  proof 
thereof  she  can  point  to  the  first  Christians,  many  of 
whom  in  spite  not  only  of  unfavorable  environment  but 
of  degenerate  ancestry,  climbed  to  lofty  heights  of  holi- 
ness. "The  Son  of  God  came  to  seek  and  to  save  that 
which  was  lost,"  ^  and  in  every  age  since  His  coming, 
the  Church,  in  repeating  the  marvelous  conversion  of 


sided  domination  of  the  individual  by  intellect;  thus  making  it 
possible  for  the  unconscious  element  in  personality  again  to  as- 
sume its  proper  place;  it  makes  it  psychologically  possible  for 
men  to  free  themselves  from  egotism;  and  it  serves  the  general 
purpose  of  distracting  the  soul  from  a  too  close  consciousness  of 
the  animal  functions,  which  is  a  much  better  way  of  preserving 
these  functions  from  any  kind  of  degeneration  than  the  most 
elaborate  hygienic  information."     Pp.  164,  166. 

*Luke  xix,  10. 


Heredity.  167 

the  Good  Thief  and  the  Magdalen,  has  borne  witness 
to  the  efficacy  of  His  mission. 

Professor  Home  admits/  as  do  most  educators,  that 
"biological  problems  underlie  educational  problems. 
They  deal  with  life  in  its  adjustment  to  its  environ- 
ment." He  selects  three  facts  as  "significant  for  edu- 
cation": "(1)  the  increasing  size  of  the  cerebrum,  or 
hemispheres  of  the  brain,  both  absolutely  and  rela- 
tively to  the  size  of  the  body,  in  the  ascending  scale  of 
mammals ;  ( 2 )  the  prolonged  period  of  human  infancy 
in  comparison  with  lower  animals;  and  (S)  the  brain 
as  the  organ  of  mind."  ^  In  place  of  his  first  fact  we 
have  taken  one  of  deeper  significance,  viz.,  heredity, 
interpreting  the  term  in  its  broad  sense  of  transmission 
from  generation  to  generation.  The  importance  of  his 
first  fact,  he  maintains,  lies  in  this,  that  it  signifies 
"educability."  We  have  asserted  that  the  Catholic 
Church  in  presenting  to  men  the  only  effectual  remedy 
for  original  sin,  educates  them  not  only  for  their  duties 
in  this  life,  but  also  for  their  functions  in  the  life  to 
come.^  This  very  circumstance  renders  our  interpreta- 
tion of  his  second  fact,  the  "prolonged  period  of  hu- 
man infancy,"  more  fundamental  and  far  reaching. 
From  the  Catholic  viewpoint,  man^s  whole  life  on  earth 
is  a  preparation  for  heaven,  and,  in  so  far,  it  is  there- 
fore a  kind  of  prolonged  infancy.  Moreover,  the  sacra- 
ments which  he  receives  render  him  not  only  more  sensi- 


^  Philosophy  of  Education,  p.   18. 

''P.  19. 

•  See  above,  pp.  41,  42. 


168  Biological  Aspects  of  Faith, 

tive  to  truths  of  the  supernatural  order,  but  also  more 
adept  in  interpreting  in  a  supernatural  way  the  phe- 
nomena, the  occurrences,  of  his  earthly  environment. 
In  other  words,  to  use  the  language  of  the  pedagogues 
who  to-day  "sit  in  the  chair  of  Moses,"  they  conserve 
and  utilize  what  is  best  in  his  "plasticity."  As  to  Pro- 
fessor Home's  third  fact,  no  Catholic  will  admit  that 
the  "brain"  is  the  "organ"  of  "mind,"  unless  the  term 
"mind"  be  so  interpreted  as  to  leave  the  spirituality  of 
the  soul  intact.  The  brain  is  the  central  "organ"  of 
the  mind's  sense-operations  only.  Its  intellectual  and 
volitional  functions  are  intrinsically  independent  of  the 
brain.^ 

Article  III. — Environment, 

We  have  considered,  from  the  Christian  standpoint, 
some  aspects  of  heredity  as  a  factor  of  education.  But 
heredity  is  valuable  only  as  it  makes  for  development, 
or,  as  some  biologists  prefer  to  express  it,  for  "organ- 
ization." Of  the  two  factors  that  cause  development, 
one,  heredity,  is  intrinsic  to  the  organism.  The  other, 
viz.,  environment,  operates  as  an  external  stimulus.  In 
the  educative  process  there  are  two  important  phases  of 
environment.  The  one  takes  cognizance  of  the  passive 
or  receptive  state  of  the  individual.  In  this  stage  the 
aim  of  the  educator  is  to  place  the  pupil  in  such  an  en- 
vironment as  will  strengthen  his  weak  tendencies  toward 
the  good,  and  avert  the  conditions  that  would  thwart 
the  strengthening  of  these  tendencies.     The  other  phase 

*  On  this  point,  see  Rev.  J.  T.  DriscoU,  Christian  Philosophy, 
The  Soul,  Chap.  IX,  "Brain  and  Thought." 


Environment.  169 

appeals  to  the  individual's  activity  and  seeks  to  train 
him  to  master  his  environment  and  make  it  contribute 
to  the  great  purpose  of  his  life.  The  first,  or  relatively 
passive,  phase  of  the  individual's  attitude  toward  his 
environment  is  primarily  the  concern  of  biology.  The 
second,  or,  b}^  contrast,  the  active,  phase  belongs  rather 
to  psychology.  Although  it  is  the  first  aspect  of  en- 
vironment that  should  principally  engage  our  attention, 
yet  it  is  futile  to  attempt  an  absolute  separation  of  the 
two  aspects.  This  is  well  presented  by  William  Arthur 
Clark  in  the  following  passage: 

"Man  has  two  environments,  or  rather  his  environment  is 
double  in  its  character.  From  the  physical  universe  about  him  he 
appropriates  the  materials  of  his  bodily  structure;  and  this  same 
physical  universe  impinging  upon  his  nervous  mechanism  stimu- 
lates him  into  conscious  life  activities — *rubs  him  into  conscious 
life.'  But  his  experiencing  of  the  environment,  his  interpretation 
of  its  irritating  contact,  is  mediated  by  his  social  environment. 
He  sees  the  ^greenness'  of  the  grass  through  the  eyes  of  his  race 
fellows.  His  life  is  saturated  with  the  content  of  common  con- 
sciousness, the  accumulated  race  experiences,  so  that  he  cannot 
reach  the  physical  world  except  [?]  through  the  medium  of  the  so- 
cial atmosphere  in  which  he  lives.  In  addition  to  mediating  the 
physical  environment  for  man,  this  social  atmosphere  is  itself  a 
true  environment.  Man  acknowledges  his  fellows  as  subjects  with 
whom  he  agrees  or  disagrees,  to  whom  he  takes  attitudes.  His 
relations  to  them  nourish  and  condition  his  individual  life.  En- 
vironment is  only  so  much  of  circumstances  as  is  related  actively 
to  the  life  of  the  individual;  it  is  circumstances  as  they  are 
grasped  by  the  individual  and  made  a  part  of  his  own  structure."  * 

In  the  first  place,  it  may  be  well  to  note  that  only 
God  has  no  environment,  since  He  alone  is  absolutely 
independent;  He  alone,  to  use  the  language  of  scholas- 

*  Suggestion  m  Education,  p.  14. 


170  Biological  Aspects  of  Faith, 

tic  philosophy,  is  "pure  act."  ^  Dependence  on  environ- 
ment signifies,  therefore,  in  scholastic  terminology,  a 
"potency,"  an  imperfection,  which  is  characteristic  of 
all  created  nature,  from  which  not  even  the  angels  are 
exempt.  Consequently  it  is  of  wider  extent  than  hered- 
ity, which,  in  its  proper  meaning,  is  limited  to  living 
organisms,  to  plants  and  animals.  Environment  may 
be  designated  as  the  sum  total  of  the  influences  from 
without  that  act  upon  a  thing.  With  each  ascending 
level  in  the  perfection  of  the  substance  itself,  there  is 
an  advance  not  only  in  the  extent  and  the  character  of 
the  environmental  influences,  but  likewise  in  the  degree 
to  which  the  substance  controls  the  environment  and 
utilizes  it  to  the  furtherance  of  its  own  perfection.  If, 
then,  we  were  to  keep  strictly  within  the  domain  of 
biology,  we  should  have  to  consider  environment  as  a 
factor  in  the  development  of  the  organism  when  viewed 
simply  as  an  organism.  This  is  "physical"  environ- 
ment. Its  value  as  a  factor  in  education  is  twofold : 
(1)  "it  leads  to  the  development  of  inherited  qualities 
through  use;"  (2)  it  "represses  certain  functions 
through  giving  them  no  opportunity  to  act."  ^  Yet 
because  each  higher  stage  of  development  in  the  living 
substance  includes  and  refines  the  perfections  of  the 
next  lower  stage,  it  follov/s  that  the  biological  aspect 


^Cf.  St.  Thomas,  Srnnma  Theologica,  I.  qq.  2,  3,  4;  A.  Farges, 
Acte  et  Puissance,  p.  75;  T.  Harper,  Metaphysics  of  the  School, 
Vol.  II,  pp.  390  ff.;  J.  L.  Perrier,  The  Revival  of  Scholastic  Phi- 
losophy in  the  Nineteenth  Century,  p.  132;  0116-Laprune,  op.  cit., 
pp.  223  f. 

^H.  H.  Home,  Idealism  in  Education,  p.  68. 


Environment,  171 

of  environment,  which  is  so  prominently  in  the  fore- 
ground during  human  infancy  and  childhood,  is  also 
coextensive  with  the  whole  life  of  the  man/  As  he 
passes  through  the  years  of  childhood,  however,  the 
3^outh  normally  becomes  less  and  less  a  mere  creature 
of  environment  and  gradually  attains  fuller  control 
over  his  surroundings.  It  is,  indeed,  the  business  of 
education  to  direct  and  to  foster  this  power.  Hence  it 
is  that,  from  the  viewpoint  of  biology,  "education  re- 
duced to  its  lowest  terms  is  adaptation  to  environ- 
ment." ^  How  the  individual  acquires  any  control  of 
his  environment  is  the  concern  of  psychology,  and  more 
particularly,  of  genetic  psychology.^  Since,  however, 
in  acquiring  this  control,  he  needs  the  help  of  others 
not  only  as  instructors  but  also  as  furnishing  him 
models  for  imitation,  it  follows  that  the  social  aspect 
of  even  physical  environment  extends  into  the  domain  of 
sociology.  In  practice,  however,  it  is  impossible  to 
separate  by  hard  and  fast  lines  these  various  aspects  of 
physical  environment,  just  as  it  is  impossible  to  draw  a 
sharp  line  of  distinction  between  physical  and  social 
environment,  or  between  the  different  grades  of  organ- 
ization or  levels  of  perfection  that  mark  the  various 
functions  of  the  individual  himself.  The  extent  and 
the  variety  of  the  influences  that  come  from  environ- 


'  See  above,  pp.  38-43,  46,  47. 

^  E.  J.  Swift,  Learning  and  Doing,  p.  202. 

'  This  is  the  problem  which  J.  M.  Baldwin  has  set  himself  in  the 
volumes.  Mental  Development  in  the  Child  and  in  the  Race  and 
Social  and  Ethical  Interpretations  in  Mental  Development.  The 
principles  are  set  forth  more  briefly  in  his  8tory  of  the  Mind, 


172  Biological  Aspects  of  Faith, 

ment  will  depend  both  upon  the  complexity  and  upon 
the  development  of  the  organism.  Hence  it  is  that  any 
satisfactory  treatment  of  environment  must  entail  not 
only  biological,  but  also  psychological  and  sociological 
considerations. 

As  we  have  already  seen,  a  novice  is  a  unity  compris- 
ing a  hierarchy  of  lesser  unities.^  On  each  of  these 
levels  he  is  subject  to  environment,  and  from  each 
should  he  derive  nutriment  for  the  perfect  life  which  he 
is  called  to  live.  Although  environment  acts  simul- 
taneously on  these  different  planes,  it  is  necessary  for 
purposes  of  analysis  to  consider  each  separately. 
Viewed  merely  as  an  organism,  the  novice  possesses 
physical  life.  Whatever  food  he  uses  to  sustain  this 
life,  the  very  air  that  he  breathes,  he  takes  from  his 
environment.  This  is  a  condition  of  his  physical 
growth  and  development.  He  is  bound  by  the  law  of 
God  and  by  the  rules  of  his  order  to  take  reasonable 
care  of  his  health.  Yet  the  contrary  view  is  so  widely 
current  that  it  is  opportune  to  cite  the  objection  of  a 
non-Catholic  educator  to  "a  continually  recurring  mod- 
ern allegation  against  Christianity,  namely,  that  it 
aims  at  suppressing  and  extirpating  nature  in  the  in- 
terests of  spiritual  culture.  .  .  .  Now  in  reality  it 
was  not  Christianity  at  all,  but  the  decadent  period  of 
heathen  civilization  which  preached  an  exaggerated  an- 
tagonism between  spirit  and  body  (the  Neo-Platonists, 
Plotinus  and  the  Manicheans,  for  example).  The  great 
classical  protagonists  of  Christianity,  such  as  Augus- 

^  Pp.  46,  47. 


Environment.  l73 

tine,  were  the  very  people  who  made  a  stand  against 
this  excessive  dualism  and  never  despised  the  natural 
works  of  God.  Their  endeavor  was  merely  to  secure 
strict  control  over  nature.^^  ^  Since,  however,  the  nov- 
ice is  more  than  plant,  his  perfection  lies  in  higher  ac- 
tivities than  the  preservation  of  health  and  the  attain- 
ment of  due  physical  growth  and  development.  These 
are  but  means  to  an  end. 

It  is  as  an  animal  that  he  first  comes  into  "conscious" 
contact  with  his  environment.  It  is  on  this  plane  that 
he  begins  to  make  adjustment  to  his  surroundings  a 
factor  in  his  existence  and,  at  least  in  many  cases,  to 
bring  it  under  his  conscious  control.^  But  the  multi- 
colored beauties  of  creation,  the  harmony  of  sweet 
sounds,  the  lusciousness  of  fruit,  the  fragrance  of  flow- 
ers, the  resistance  of  the  ground  on  which  he  treads,  the 
soft  summer  breeze — all  these  "mean"  nothing  to  him 
without  the  help  of  reason.  And  so  the  rational  stage 
follows,  wherein  he  studies  the  meaning  of  the  various 
aspects  of  his  environment,  being  guided  more  or  less 
consciously  in  the  process,  by  the  character  of  his  total 


*  F.  W.  Foerster,  Marriage  and  the  Sex  Problem,  pp.  214,  216. 
For  a  strange  perversion  of  the  truth,  see  W.  D.  Howell's  "Saints 
and  their  Bodies,"  Atlantic  Monthly,  I,  p.  582.  A  recent  presenta- 
tion of  the  Catholic  attitude  is  given  by  W.  J.  Lockington,  S.  J., 
in  Bodily  Health  and  Spiritual  Vigor.  Cf.  Francis  Thompson, 
Health  and  Holiness. 

^  "Biological  struggle  is  the  means  of  selection  for  purposes  of 
life  in  a  physical  and  vital  environment.  .  .  .  Social  rivalry,  on 
the  other  hand,  is  the  means  of  selection  for  mental  and  moral 
purposes  in  the  envirorvment  of  a  social  order."  Baldwin,  The  In- 
dividual and  Society,  p.  115.  See  also  his  Story  of  the  Mind,  pp. 
40-43. 


174*  Biological  Aspects  of  Faith. 

experience/  How  exceedingly  valuable  this  exercise 
may  prove  in  furthering  mental  development  is  excel- 
lently presented  by  Reuben  Post  Halleck  in  his  study  of 
"How  Shakespeare's  Senses  Were  Trained."  ^  Accord- 
ing to  modern  science,  all  the  subtle  apparently  un- 
noticed influences  that  stream  in  through  the  senses  in 
all  man's  waking  hours  inevitably  leave  upon  his  mind 
the  impress  of  his  environment.  Moreovor,  recent 
studies  in  psychology  serve  to  show  that  our  ideas  tend 
to  act  themselves  out,  to  express  themselves  in  deeds. ^ 
And  so  it  comes  to  pass  that  to-day  science  unwittingly 
endorses  the  Church's  teaching  on  proximate  occasions 
of  sin,  viz.,  that  one  cannot  freel}^  remain  in  them  with- 
out contracting  some  moral  taint.  This,  therefore, 
may  be  regarded  as  a  negative,  or  inhibitive,  aspect  of 
environment.  But  the  positive  phase  is  of  even  greater 
moment.  The  loving  care  of  priest  and  people  ex- 
pended in  the  rearing  of  majestic  Gothic  cathedrals  to 
the  honor  of  God,  the  hallowed  devotion  of  sculptor  and 
painter  in  adorning  the  sacred  fane,  the  inspiration  of 
the  musician  consecrated  to  the  production  of  har- 
monies befitting  religious  services — all  these  are  but 
agencies  for  the  framing  of  an  environment  suitable  for 
the  place  of  divine  worship. 


^  For  a  simple  presentation  of  the  aspect,  see  Teachers'  College 
Record,  Vol.  II,  No.  4  (Sept.,  1901),  pp.  26-29.  See  also  M.  F. 
Washburn,  The  Ammal  Mind,  Chaps.  X,  XI,  "The  Modification  of 
Conscious  Processes  by  Individual  Experience." 

^EdAication  of  the  Central  Nervous  System,  Chap.  X. 

''J.  B.  Watson,  Behavior,  an  Introduction  to  Comparative  Psy- 
chology (pp.  16  ff.)  presents  the  opposite  view  of  the  Behaviorists. 


Environment,  175 

In  the  history  of  religious  orders  also  environment 
has  played  a  prominent  part.  The  very  principle  em- 
phasized by  Halleck  was  not  unknown  to  them;  for,  as 
Montalembert  reminds  us/  even  the  most  austere  monks 
of  old  did  not  deny  themselves  the  beauties  of  nature. 
Moreover,  the  preference  shown  by  many  of  the  orders, 
especially  by  the  Benedictines,  for  vast  tracts  of 
land  remote  from  cities  and  possessed  of  diversified  nat- 
ural features  is  eminently  justified  on  psychological  and 
pedagogical  grounds.  It  is  a  noteworthy  fact  that 
those  who  are  considered  by  the  world  at  large  the 
greatest  authorities  of  our  day  in  matters  of  education, 
have,  though  unintentionally,  done  tardy  justice  to  the 
much  maligned  Fathers  of  the  Desert.  What  is  the 
meaning  of  the  vigorous  insistence  on  the  superiority  of 
the  country  over  the  city  as  an  educative  factor  during 
the  plastic  years  of  childhood  and  youth,  but  that  the 
hermits  of  the  early  ages  of  the  Church  chose  both 
wisely  and  well?  The  vast  sweep  of  their  environment 
was  congenial  to  the  nurture  of  great  and  noble 
thoughts  far  more  enduring  than  the  sentiments  of 
Henry  D.  Thoreau,  and  of  greater  constructive  value, 
from  the  viewpoint  of  faith,  than  the  dramas  of  Shakes- 
peare.^    Many  of  the  greatest  Fathers  of  the  Church 


^  Cf.  Mabillon,  Ann.  Benedict ,  t.  v.,  lib.  68  ad  finem,  cited  by 
Montalembert  in  Monks  of  the  West,  Vol.  I,  pp.  71,  72. 

^Chap.  V,  "Environment  and  Training,"  in  R.  P.  Halleck's 
Education  of  the  Central  Nervous  System,  is  good  reading.  The 
following  passage  is  suggestive  not  only  to  a  tenement  house  com- 
mission, but  also  to  every  whole-souled  teacher:  "The  city  has 
many  drawbacks  for  bringing  up  children.  In  the  first  place,  it  is 
cramped.     Only  those  rooms  into  which  the  sunlight  can  pour. 


176  Biological  Aspects  of  Faith. 

were  trained  in  such  solitudes.  Steeped,  as  they  were, 
in  the  traditions  of  sanctity  handed  down  from  patri- 
arch to  patriarch,  these  master  minds  of  Christendom 
verified  in  both  theory  and  practice  what  psychologists 
call  the  principle  of  association.  In  their  own  minds 
forever  after,  the  laws  of  holy  living  were  closely  knit 
to  these  scenes  of  silence  and  solitude,  so  that  even  sim- 
ilarity in  environment  tended  to  recall  the  impressive 
lessons  which  they  had  received  amid  such  fitting  sur- 
roundings. The  practical  result  was  of  even  greater 
moment;  for  unnumbered  multitudes  in  every  age  since 
then,  hearkening  to  their  words,  have  withdrawn,  if  not 
into  physical  retreat,  at  least  into  spiritual  solitude,  to 
ponder  the  great  eternal  truths.    Men  were  thus  taught 


ought  ever  to  be  used  for  sitting  or  sleeping  rooms.  The  sun, 
however,  has  small  chance  at  the  majority  of  city  apartments. 
Space  is  also  so  precious  that  the  most  of  the  rooms  are  small. 
Some  suggestive  experiments  have  been  made  [unfortunately  no 
references  are  given]  which  emphasize  the  baneful  effect  of 
cramped  quarters  on  growing  animal  life.  A  row  of  vessels,  regu- 
larly increasing  in  size,  has  been  set  on  the  same  shelf  in  a  room. 
These  have  been  filled  with  water,  and  a  growing  tadpole  or  a  pond 
snail  placed  in  each  vessel.  Although  all  were  treated  alike,  so 
far  as  the  capacity  of  the  vessel  would  allow,  at  the  end  of  a  cer- 
tain period  it  was  found'  that  each  tadpole  or  snail  had  developed 
proportionately  to  the  size  of  the  vessel;  that  is,  the  smallest 
tadpoles  or  snails  were  found  in  the  smallest  vessels;  the  next 
larger,  in  the  next  larger  vessel.  In  connection  with  this,  one  can 
scarcely  help  thinking  of  the  thousands  of  children,  whose  play- 
ground is  the  little  back  yard,  frequently  not  so  large  as  a  good- 
sized  room.  It  would  be  unfair  to  expect  their  development  to 
be  more  than  commensurate  with  their  surroundings."  P.  78. 
(These  experiments  were  made  by  Professor  Yung,  and  are  re- 
ported by  H.  H.  Donaldson,  The  Growth  of  the  Brain,  pp.  38,  39.) 
And  we  ask.  What  are  we  to  think  of  the  value  for  develop- 
ment of  both  soul  and  body,  of  noble  ideas  that  are  fondly  cher- 
ished and  high  resolves  that  influence  conduct? 


Environment.  177 

to  look  upon  the  world  of  sense  experience  as  a  reflec- 
tion of  God's  power  and  goodness.  This  point  of  view 
reveals  a  higher  plane  of  environment  than  that  of  mere 
sense  and  reason ;  for  it  reveals  a  plane  of  the  supernat- 
ural order.  From  this  level  the  Christian  regards  the 
things  of  time  as  feeders  of  the  activities  of  eternity, 
for  the  God  after  whose  image  he  is  made  is  not  an  idle 
God.^ 

Furthermore,  man's  senses  give  access  to  no  more 
than  fragments  of  the  material  universe.  It  is  the 
business  of  the  intellect  to  piece  these  fragments  to- 
gether and  fashion  them  into  a  mosaic  having  a  definite 
meaning,  as  being  a  genuine  transcript  of  the  world 
round  about  us.  In  accomplishing  this  task,  the  in- 
tellect must  be  guided  by  knowledge  of  the  end  of  man 
and  by  consideration  of  the  various  ideals  and  means 
that  are  held  to  be  values  with  reference  to  that  end. 
It  is  in  this  way  that  it  makes  a  selective  use  of  environ- 
ment, emphasizing  certain  aspects,  minimizing  others, 
and,  as  far  as  may  be,  ignoring  still  others.  Hence  it 
is  that  the  work  of  education  consists  largely  in  train- 
ing the  young  to  make  the  best  possible  "selective"  use 
of  their  environment.  Such  a  concept  of  education 
supposes,  on  the  part  of  the  teacher,  a  clear  vision  of 
the  great  aim  of  the  educative  process,  a  definite  curric- 
ulum of  studies  to  impart,  and  a  scientific,  yet  plastic, 
method  of  imparting  these  subjects.  Hence  it  is  that, 
in  the  opinion  of  Professor  H.  H.  Horne,^  "the  environ- 


'  "The  Father  worketh  until  now,  and  I  work."    John  v,  17. 
^Philosophy  of  Education,  pp.  97,  98. 


178  Biological  Aspects  of  Faith. 

ment  of  the  pupil  is  the  achievement  of  the  race,  to 
which  he  potentially  belongs,  in  the  conquest  of  nature, 
in  the  movement  of  affairs,  and  in  the  knowledge  of 
itself.  It  is  a  spiritual  environment.  The  adjustment 
to  this  environment,  which  is  the  racers  life,  discovers 
to  the  pupil  his  own  social  capacities ;  he  finds  his  own 
life  in  his  racers  life." 

It  is  incumbent  on  all  men,  in  virtue  of  their  power 
of  reason,  to  make  such  selective  use  of  their  environ- 
ment,^ individual  and  social,  as  will  enable  them  to  at- 
tain the  purpose  of  their  existence.  But  since  the 
Christian  possesses  a  special  revelation  of  his  divinely 
purchased  destiny,  of  the  means  to  attain  it,  and  the 
obstacles  to  overcome  in  striving  for  it,  he  is  doubly 
bound,  namely,  as  man  and  as  Christian,  to  use  his  en- 
vironment in  accordance  with  the  teaching  of  our  Lord 
as  contained  in  the  Gospel.  And  what  of  the  novice? 
He  is  to  go  one  step  higher  and  study  his  environment 
in  the  light,  not  merely  of  the  Gospel  precepts,  but  also 
of  the  Gospel  counsels.  The  great  question  for  him  is  : 
How  can  my  environment  help  me  to  attain  that  more 
perfect  life  to  which  I  believe  myself  called?  To  dis- 
covei:  the  answer  to  this  question  he  studies  the  Scrip- 
tures and  meditates  in  detail  on  the  life  of  our  Lord. 
He  ponders  the  limitations  and  the  successes  of  the 
chosen  twelve,  who  were  commissioned  to  "preach  the 
Gospel  to  every  creature."  ^    He  becomes  familiar  with 

^  "A  man's  real  environment  is  the  things  of  which  he  is  con- 
scious, over  which  he  has  some  power  through  his  selective  atten- 
tion and  interests." — H,  H.  Home,  Idealism  in  Education,  p.  133. 

'Mark  xvi,  15. 


Environment.  179 

the  great  religious  leaders  honored  yearly  in  the 
Church's  calendar.  And  especially  does  he  devote  him- 
self to  a  mastery  of  the  principles  that  shaped  the  con- 
duct of  the  founder  of  his  own  order;  for  it  is  in  their 
light  that  he  must  interpret  the  rules  and  constitutions 
by  which  he  is  to  be  guided. 

For  the  novice,  then,  there  are  two  great  orders  of  en- 
vironment: the  natural  and  the  supernatural.  The 
former  comprises  the  mineral,  the  vegetable,  and  the 
animal  kingdom,  besides  the  great  body  of  men  with 
whom  he  comes  in  contact  directly  or  indirectly,  and 
who  form  his  social  environment.  But  within  the  sphere 
of  the  natural  is  also  included  a  spiritual  environment 
which  appeals  to  the  intellect  and  will,  stimulating  the 
former  to  fuller  knowledge  of  the  achievements  of  the 
race,  and  the  latter  to  a  noble  emulation  of  the 
worthy  deeds  recorded  in  history.  Above  the  natural 
environment  and  yet,  for  the  Christian,  compenetrating 
it  also,  is  the  order  of  supernatural  values,  which  rates 
everything  after  its  relation  to  man's  everlasting  des- 
tiny. As  far  as  the  novice  is  concerned,  this  order  is 
twofold,  consisting  first  of  a  basic  plane  of  Christian 
doctrine;  and  secondly,  resting  in  turn  on  this,  the 
whole  scheme  of  his  religious  life.  Hence  his  training 
in  the  novitiate  is  specially  fitted  to  enable  him  to  "ap- 
perceive"  nature  in  the  light  of  divine  faith.  Even  this 
supernatural  environment  is  but  preparatory  to  the 
undying  splendors  of  heaven  which  the  Beloved  Disciple 
attempted  to  sketch  in  the  Apocalypse.^     Prescinding 

^  Apoc.  iv,  xxi. 


180  Biological  Aspects  of  Faith. 

from  the  question  of  mere  material  environment  in 
heaven,  the  novice  yet  believes  that  there  he  shall  enjoy 
the  most  perfect  of  social  environments.  There,  too,  in 
the  Sacred  Humanity  of  Christ,  in  the  glorified  body  of 
His  Virgin  Mother  assumed  into  heaven,  and  in  the  per- 
sons of  all  the  blessed,  especially  after  the  last  day, 
shall  the  kingdoms — mineral,  vegetable,  and  animal — 
that  here  below  formed  the  natural  environment  of  the 
novice,  contribute  forever  to  the  praise  of  the  Creator 
of  all/ 

The  pedagogical  value  of  environment,  as  its  ever 
widening  vista  stands  revealed  to  faith,  is  this,  that  it 


^  Apoc.  xiv. — In  the  Dublin  Review,  3d  Series,  Vol.  XXIV 
(1890),  pp.  21  ff.,  under  the  title  of  the  "Final  Destiny  of  the 
Earth,"  Rt.  Rev.  J.  S.  Vaughan  suggested  a  possible  final  use  for 
man's  earthly  environment.  Interpreting  the  passage  of  Scripture 
where  the  Prince  of  the  Apostles  speaks  of  this  world  as  being 
purified  by  fire  on  the  last  great  day  ("And  the  earth  and  the 
works  which  are  in  it  shall  be  burnt  up" — 2  Pet.  iii,  10),  he  bor- 
rows from  chemistry  the  principle  of  combustion.  Taking  as  a 
guide  the  text  of  St.  Paul  (Eph.  iv.  13):  "Until  we  all  meet  into 
the  unity  of  faith,  and  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Son  of  God,  unto  a 
perfect  man,  unto  the  measure  of  the  age  of  the  fullness  of  Christ" 
(which  is  generally  taken  to  mean  that  all  human  beings  shall  on 
the  last  day  arise  with  fully  developed  bodies),  he  proceeds  to  cal- 
culate the  demands  that  would  then  be  made  upon  this  planet  from 
whose  "dust"  the  body  of  man  has  been  fashioned.  After  a  careful 
consideration  of  facts  and  probabilities,  he  concludes  that,  on 
such  a  theory,  the  whole  earth  would  be  utilized  in  supplying  a 
fully  developed  body  for  every  human  being  that  ever  lived.  In 
the  case,  then,  of  such  human  beings  as  attain  to  the  bliss  of 
heaven,  man's  physical  environment  here  on  earth,  would,  in  and 
through  the  blessed,  contribute  to  the  glory  of  God  and  in  a  cer- 
tain sense  share  in  his  reward  for  its  passive  concurrence  in  ef- 
fecting his  salvation.  The  article  has  since  been  republished  in 
the  author's  volume  of  essays  entitled  Faith  and  Folly,  London, 
1901. 


Environment,  181 

is  a  genuine  principle  of  mental  and  moral  development 
for  the  individual  not  merely  as  individual,  but  also  as 
member  of  society.  The  mere  sensile  environment  be- 
comes the  ground  for  selective  use  on  the  part  of 
trained  reason,  and  then  faith  revises,  refines,  readjusts 
and  ennobles  these  interpretations  in  the  light  of  re- 
vealed truth.  Hence  it  is  that  the  action  of  faith  sup- 
plies a  unifying  principle  of  the  highest  value,  possess- 
ing, in  the  best  sense  of  that  term,  all  the  allurement 
which  for  so  many  minds  invests  the  theory  of  evolu- 
tion, and  yet  resting  on  a  more  secure  foundation  than 
scientific  hypothesis,  utility,  or  consistency;  for  its 
basis  is  the  revealed  word  of  God.  For  every  Christian 
divine  revelation  is  the  secure  foundation-stone  of  all 
theory  and  practice  of  life  that  has  any  permanent 
value. 

Furthermore,  environment  extends  its  influence  also 
into  the  domain  of  prayer.  In  proof  thereof  let 
this  practice  of  Father  Peter  Faber  (Le  Fevre),  one 
of  the  first  companions  of  St.  Ignatius  Loyola,  be 
cited  : 

"When  he  came  near  any  city  or  town  he  used  to  pour  out 
prayers  for  the  inhabitants,  and  beg  of  God's  mercy  that  the  angel 
of  the  place,  and  the  guardian  angels  of  the  inhabitants,  might 
guard  it  with  a  special  protection.  He  invoked  also  the  patron 
saints  of  the  place,  and  implored  them  to  return  thanks,  or  to  beg 
pardon,  or  to  impetrate  grace  for  the  inhabitants,  and  to  supply 
for  all  their  negligence  and  omission  in  these  respects,  that  God 
might  not  be  defrauded  of  any  of  His  glory.  In  hiring  a  house 
or  changing  his  lodgings,  it  was  his  custom,  when  he  first  entered 
the  house,  to  go  and  kneel  in  all  the  rooms,  corners  and  cupboards 
that  he  could,  and  pray  God  to  drive  away  the  evil  spirits,  and  all 
dangers  and  sorrows  from  the  place;  and  in  his  prayer  he  remem- 


18^  Biological  Aspects  of  Faith, 

bered  all  those  who  had  ever  lived  or  ever  should  live  there,  and 
entreated  that  no  injury  might  happen  there  to  their  souls."  ^ 

Such  use  of  environment  tends  to  perfect  the  highest 
attitude  of  social  service  and  to  strengthen  that  re- 
flective habit  of  mind  which  is  directly  opposed  to  a 
blind  yielding  to  the  impulse  of  the  crowd.  ^  It  puts  in 
concrete  form  something  of  the  ideal  which  the  Catholic 
Church  proposes  to  all  her  children  and  which  the  mem- 
bers of  religious  orders  seek  to  incorporate  into  their 
lives.  Furthermore,  such  Christian  apperception  of 
environment,  when  habitually  expressing  itself  in  con- 
gruous acts,  helps  to  neutralize  one  of  the  effects  of 
original  sin  foretold  in  the  words  addressed  by  God 
Himself  to  Adam:  "Cursed  is  the  earth  in  thy  work, 
.  Thorns  and  thistles  shall  it  bring  forth  to 
thee."  ^ 

A  detailed  consideration  of  social  environment  be- 
longs under  the  caption  of  the  sociological  function  of 
faith.  Yet  it  is  pertinent  to  refer  here  to  the  views  by 
which  Professor  Home  is  led  to  conclude  that  "the 
environment  of  man  is  God."  ^    To  understand  them  it 


'  Faber,  All  for  Jems,  pp.  211,  212. 

*  E.  A.  Ross,  Social  Psychology,  Chap.  III. 

'  Gen.  iii,  17,  18.  No  one  can  read  the  interesting  stories  in  the 
late  Monsignor  Benson's  Mirror  of  Shalott  without  getting  a 
keener  realization  of  the  effects  of  that  curse.  Whether  they  be 
true  or  not,  the  stories  are  in  harmony  with  what  is  known  con- 
cerning the  effect  of  the  rites  of  exorcism.  See  especially  "Father 
Meuron's  Tale,"  "Father  Rector's  Tale,"  and  "Father  Girdle- 
stone's  Tale." — Of  far  greater  significance,  however,  is  v.  g.,  the 
ritual  for  baptism,  and  the  blessing  which  the  Church  imparts 
before  using  any  material  object  in  the  divine  service. 

*•  Philosophy  of  Education,  p.  271. 


Environment.  183 

is  necessary  to  go  back  to  his  concept  of  religion.     He 
writes : 

"Religion  and  art  spring  from  the  same  fount  of  the  personal 
being,  viz.,  the  feelings.  Art  is  the  expression  of  the  feelings  in 
the  presence  of  the  beautiful  or  sublime;  religion  is  the  expression 
of  the  feelings  in  the  presence  of  the  divine.  .  .  .  Religion  is 
not  primarily  what  a  man  thinks;  this  is  dogma,  creed,  or  philoso- 
phy. Nor  is  religion  primarily  what  a  man  does,  for  the  deeds 
of  man  may  be  done  under  necessity  or  from  motives  of  prudence 
or  convention.  But  religion  is  primarily  what  the  man  is,  what  he 
feels  in  the  presence  of  the  Supreme  Person,  and  then,  and  then, 
what  he  thinks  and  does  in  consequence  of  such  feeling."  ^ 

Such  a  theory  postulates  for  religion  a  purely  hu- 
man standard,  and  assigns  to  it  a*purely  human  origin. 
This  the  author  subsequently  admits: 

"This  conception  of  God  is  not  that  of  the  transcendent  Jehovah 
of  the  ancient  Hebrews.  .  .  .  Our  conception  is  neither  a 
transcendent  dualism,^  nor  an  immanent  pantheism,  but  an  ideal- 
istic theism.  God  is  the  self-conscious  unity  of  all  reality.  .  .  . 
Matter  is  ...  a  process  of  thought  in  the  consciousness  of 
God.  This  is  the  doctrine  of  idealistic  theism  to  which  education 
brings  us  as  the  only  adequate  [sic]  interpretation  of  its  own  im- 
plications concerning  the  origin  of  man.  A  great  new  light  is  thus 
thrown  upon  the  final  nature  of  the  environment  of  man,  hitherto 
[in  his  Philosophy  of  Education]  described  as  intellectual,  emo- 
tional, and  volitional,  in  adjustment  to  which  consists  the  educa- 
tion of  man.    The  environment  of  man  is  God."' 

Although  the  author  has  already  expressly  rejected 
pantheism,    yet    he    emphatically    affirms    it    when    he 


'  Ibid.,  p.  123. 

'  The  Catholic  Church  teaches  such  dualism  in  affirming  that  man, 
though  dependent  on  God,  is  yet  distinct  from  Him.  Cf.  E. 
Thamiry,  "Immanence,"  Catholic  Encyclopedia. 

»0p.  cit.,  pp.  269-291. 


184*  Biological  Aspects  of  Faith. 

writes:^  "The  Word  [of  God]  became  the  world  and 
dwelt  about  us,  before  it  became  the  flesh  and  dwelt 
among  us."  Moreover  that  part  of  his  own  "contribu- 
tion to  the  definition  of  the  conception  of  education" 
which  he  describes  as  the  "induction  of  the  Kantian 
ideas  of  God,  Freedom,  and  Immortality  from  educa- 
tional, rather  than  ethical,  facts,"  ^  accounts  for  the 
modernism  ^  which  is  so  conspicuous  in  the  following 
passage  :* 

"God  is  the  self-conscious  unity  of  all  reality.  ...  In  this 
complete  unity  of  self-consciousness,  one  can  make  abstractions  of 
thought  that  do  not  exist  in  reality.  There  is  the  infinite  subject, 
the  thinker,  the  I,  the  Father,  who  does  not  exist  apart  from  the 
infinite  object,  the  thought,  the  Me,  the  Son,  a  portion  of  which 
[sic]  is  the  temporal  order,  rising  into  clear  consciousness  of 
itself  in  Jesus,  and  there  is  the  concrete  unity  of  both  aspects  in 
one  Being,  the  Spirit.  God  is  Spirit.  And  the  whole  is  one  Per- 
son, as  any  self-conscious  individual  [sic],  himself  a  subject- 
object,  is  one." 

This  is  not  the  God  of  the  Christian,  and  therefore 
is  not,  and  cannot  be  the  environment  [  ?]  of  the  novice. 
For  the  Christian  in  general  and  the  novice  in  par- 
ticular the  mystery  of  the  Incarnation  is  a  special  reve- 
lation of  the  mystery  of  the  Blessed  Trinity.  It  is  the 
crowning  glory  of  man's  spiritual  environment.  This 
is  manifest  from  the  words  of  St.  Thomas  Aquinas : 

"It  would  seem  most  fitting  that  by  visible  things  the  invisible 
things  of  God  should  be  made  known;  for  to  this  end  was  the 


^P.  269. 

'  Preface,  pp.  xi,  xii. 

» On  "Modernism,"  cf.   A.   Vermeersch,  Catholic  Encyclopedia, 

*Horne,  op.  cit.,  p.  272. 


Environment,  185 

whole  world  made.  But,  as  the  Damascene  says,  by  the  mystery 
of  the  Incarnation  are  made  known  at  once  the  goodness,  the  wis- 
dom, the  justice,  the  power,  or  the  might  of  God.  But  the  very 
nature  of  God  is  goodness,  and  it  belongs  to  the  essence  of  good- 
ness to  communicate  itself  to  others.  Hence  it  belongs  to  the 
essence  of  the  highest  good  to  communicate  itself  in  the  highest 
manner  to  the  creature;  and  this  is  brought  about  chiefly  by  his  so 
joining  created  nature  to  Himself  that  One  Person  is  made  up  of 
these  three — the  Word,  a  soul,  and  flesh,  as  Augustine  says.  Hence 
it  is  manifest  that  it  was  fitting  that  God  should  become  in- 
carnate." * 

The  Son  of  God  made  man  is  the  perfect  model  for 
the  novice  in  two  respects :  ( 1 )  in  His  individual  use  of 
environment  to  develop  His  human  life;  (2)  in  His  use 
of  environment  to  symbolize  to  others  the  great  truths 
of  the  religion  which  He  came  on  earth  to  teach.^  From 
the  Christian  viewpoint,  man's  environment  is  not  God 
Himself 5  for  God  never  changes ;  it  is  but  a  means  of 
lifting  the  soul  up  to  God  and  the  things  of  God.  It  is 
by  devout  meditation  on  the  life  of  our  Lord,  practised 
assiduously  throughout  the  whole  period  of  his  no- 
vitiate, that  the  novice  gradually  learns  the  meaning 
and  the  use  of  environment.  He  comes  to  realize  that 
his  divine  Model  is  master  of  both  heredity  and  environ- 
ment. Although  the  "Son  of  man"  did  not  disdain  tt) 
include  even  great  sinners  in  His  human  ancestry  ^  and 
to  be  called  the  "Son  of  David,"  yet  He  exempted  His 


^Smmna  Theologica,  III,  q.  1,  a.  1. 

*See  above,  pp.  43-65. 

'  The  genealogy  of  Christ  on  the  male  side  is  given  by  St.  Mat- 
thew (i,  1-16);  on  the  female  side  by  St.  Luke  (iii,  23-38).  St. 
Joseph  conformed  to  the  Mosaic  law,  and  consequently  we  infer 
that  he  was  a  relative  of  the  Most  Blessed  Virgin. 


186  Biological  Aspects  of  Faith. 

Blessed  Mother  from  even  the  stain  of  original  sin  in 
her  conception,  and  He  removed  its  taint  from  St.  John 
Baptist  even  before  the  Precursor  was  born.  One  of  the 
many  marvels  associated  with  Bethlehem  is  the  utter 
destitution  in  which  the  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth  came 
among  men.^  With  all  the  authority  of  the  Godhead 
as  well  as  with  the  charms  of  infancy,  does  He  there 
teach  men  the  great  truth  proclaimed  on  Sinai:  "I  am 
the  Lord  thy  God.  .  .  .  Thou  shalt  not  have  strange 
gods  before  me."  ^  Not  by  the  adventitious  aid  of  en- 
vironment, but  by  His  own  inner  worth  would  He  draw 
all  men  to  Himself.^  Later,  in  His  public  life.  He  was 
to  proclaim  the  doctrine:  "If  thou  wilt  be  perfect,  go 
sell  what  thou  hast,  .  .  .  and  come  follow  Me."  * 
His  example  had  gone  before  His  words,  for  He  could 
testify  of  Himself :  "The  foxes  have  holes,  and  the  birds 
of  the  air  nests :  but  the  Son  of  man  hath  not  where  to 
lay  His  head."  ^  The  poverty  and  renunciation  of  His 
mortal  life  He  accentuated  by  the  utter  destitution  of 
His  death.  By  word  and  by  deed,  therefore,  does  the 
divine  Teacher  impress  upon  the  novice  the  great  truth 
that  environment  is  to  be  used  only  as  a  help  to  go  to 
God,  and  even  then  it  is  to  be  used  in  a  spirit  of  detach- 
ment. When  it  hinders  union  with  God  it  must  be 
renounced.       For    environment    is    only    a    creature. 


^  Cf.  F.  W.  Faber,  Bethlehem,  pp.  116-128. 
^  Exod.  XX,  2,  3. 
'^John  xii,  32. 
*  Matt,  xix,  21. 
•^Matt.  viii,  20. 


Plasticity  and  Adjustment.  187 

Whence  also  it  appears  how  erroneous  is  the  statement 
of  Professor  Home:  "The  environment  of  man  is 
God." 

Article  IV. — Plasticity  and  Adjustment. 

Environment  is  primarily  objective  in  character.  Its 
efficacy  is  dependent  on  a  correlative  quality  in  man, 
viz.,  on  his  susceptibility  to  environmental  influences. 
This  quality  is  known  as  plasticity.  It  has  been  defined 
as  "that  property  of  living  substance  or  of  an  organ- 
ism whereby  it  alters  its  form  under  changed  conditions 
of  life."  ^  The  Greek  etymology  of  the  word  insinuates 
that  environment  molds  the  organism,  and,  if  considered 
as  a  factor  in  education,  shapes  the  life  of  the  pupil. 
A  hint  of  its  meaning  in  Christian  pedagogy  is  found 
in  a  passage  from  Job,  which  the  Church  chants  in  the 
Office  of  the  Dead,  and  which  is  addressed  by  him  to  his 
Maker:  "Thy  hands  have  made  me,  and  fashioned  me 
wholly  round  about."  ^  Since  plasticity  is  correlative 
with  environment,  it  must  include  in  man  as  many  de- 
grees of  susceptibility  as  there  are  planes  upon  which 
environment  operates.  In  the  lower  forms  of  organic 
.life  plasticity  is  a  factor  in  the  functions  of  irritability, 
conductivity  and  adaptation.^  Irritability  makes  it 
possible  for  the  organism  to  receive  environmental  in- 
fluence; conductivity  diffuses  this  influence  through  the 
organism ;  and,  through  both  constructive  and  destruc- 


*  Baldwin's  Dictiovoary  of  Philosophy  and  Psychology, 

*  Job  X,  8,  included  in  Lesson  III  of  OflSce  for  the  Dead. 
'  See  above,  pp.  154,  166. 


iS8  Biological  Aspects  of  Faith. 

tive  metabolism,  adaptation  applies  this  influence  to  th^ 
benefit  of  the  organism.  When  we  pass  beyond  the 
plant  world  into  the  sphere  of  sentient  life,  we  gener- 
ally find  the  animal  capable  not  only  of  appropriating 
what  is  helpful  from  its  environment  and  fleeing  from 
what  is  hurtful,  but  also  of  seeking  a  new  environment, 
and  of  changing  its  habitat  for  a  longer  or  shorter  time. 
This  marks  a  distinct  advance  in  the  development  of 
plasticity,  and  brings  out  prominently  its  active  phase 
as  a  determinant  of  behavior.  For  we  must  not  forget 
that  plasticity  is  a  characteristic  of  such  bodies  as  are 
endowed  with  life.  Hence  it  must  include  the  activity 
proper  to  life.^ 

The  plasticity  manifested  by  animals  is  based  on 
automatic  and  reflex  activities ;  sometimes  also  on  in- 
stinctive activities.^  All  these  are  inherited  by  gen- 
eration after  generation  of  animal  life,  and  tend  to  be- 


*  We  have  already  seen  (p.  154  above)  that  A.  Farges  makes  it 
one  of  the  true  attributes  of  living  bodies.  Dr.  Shields,  in  notes  on 
the  Psychology  of  Education^  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  to 
the  popular  mind  "plasticity"  has  a  passive  connotation;  whereas 
in  biology  it  signifies  an  active  power. 

•Cf.  J.  B.  Watson,  op.  cit..  Chaps.  VIII,  IX;  M.  F.  Washburn, 
op.  cit.,  Chap.  X,  pp.  210  ff.  Automatic  activities  are  inherited 
internal  adjustments  of  the  organism  and  are  evoked  by  internal 
stimuli.  Reflex  activities  are  adjustments  to  environment.  As 
contrasted  with  automatic  and  reflex  acts,  instincts  are  less  rigid 
and  more  complex.  They  have  three  attributes:  (1)  they  are  in- 
herited, not  learned;  (2)  they  are  complex,  made  up  of  a  series 
of  acts;  (3)  they  are  purposeful,  they  help  to  attain  an  end,  even 
if  that  end  be  unknown  to  the  possessor  of  the  instinct.  Cf.  J.  B. 
Watson,  op.  cit.,  Chap.  IV;  Dr.  Shields,  Psychology  of  Education, 
Lessons  X,  XIII-XV,  and  Catholic  Encyclopedia,  "Instinct";  Col- 
vin  and  Bagley,  Hvman  Behavior,  Part  II. 


Plasticity  and  Adjustment,  189 

come  rigid  if  the  environment  remains  unchanged/  In 
order,  then,  that  plasticity  may  really  contribute  to  the 
development  of  the  organism,  it  must  be  stimulated  by 
a  slowly  changing  environment.^  To  such  uniform  sur- 
roundings the  individual  animal  soon  adapts  itself,  and 
this  adaptation  it  manifests  in  the  increasing  facility, 
rapidity  and  perfection  with  which  it  responds  to  these 
regularly  recurring  stimuli.  Plasticity  is,  therefore, 
the  biological  basis  of  the  "learning  process" — a  phrase 
which  it  is  well  to  interpret  in  its  broadest  sense.^  So 
interpreted,  "learning  signifies  the  modification  of  the 
behavior  of  an  organism  in  the  light  of  experience."* 
This  modification  is  commonly  effected  in  one  of  three 
ways:  (1)  through  "trial  and  error"  (the  "persever- 
ance method"  of  Professor  Watson)  ;^  (2)  through 
"imitation";  (3)  through  forming  "free  ideas."  ^  Of 
these  methods  the  first  two  are  common  to  man  and  the 
brute  creation ;  the  last,  however,  is  proper  to  man.  If 
the  efficacy  of  the  methods  be  considered,  the  first 
method  is  found  to  be  wasteful  of  both  time  and  energy 
unless  it  be  controlled  by  human  intelligence.  This 
control  may  be  exercised  on  the  one  hand  through  vari- 
ous forms  of  experiment  performed  upon  animals  with 


^  H.  S.  Jennings,  Behavior  of  the  Lower  Organisms,  passim. 

*Cf.  Dr.  Shields,  op.  cit.,  Lesson  X. 

'  Cf.  S.  S.  Colvin,  The  Learning  Process.  J.  B.  Watson,  op.  cit., 
pp.  46  flF. 

*  Colvin  and  Bagley,  Human  Behavior,  p.  25. 

"Op.  cit,  p.  46. 

*Cf.  Colvin  and  Bagley,  op.  cit,  pp.  26-36;  also  E.  A.  Kirk- 
Patrick,  Genetic  Psychology,  pp.  126-139. 


190  Biological  Aspects  of  Faith, 

a  view  to  ascertain  how  they  "learn"  to  do  things.^  On 
the  other  hand,  it  may  take  the  form  of  one  or  more  of 
the  various  agencies  through  which  human  society  ful- 
fills toward  children  its  responsible  office  of  "teaching." 
The  method  of  imitation  is  twofold:  it  may  reproduce 
the  movements  of  other  beings  or,  through  the  aid  of 
memory,  it  may  seek  to  repeat  such  movements  of  its 
own  as  have  been  successful  in  the  past.^  The  method 
of  "free  ideas"  is  possible  only  when  the  individual  has 
some  idea  both  of  the  end  and  aim  to  be  realized  and  of 
the  means  for  attaining  that  end.  This  supposes  a 
grasp  of  the  causal  relationship  existing  between  means 
and  end.  As  a  necessary  consequence  this  method  de- 
mands the  presence  of  abstract  or  "general"  concepts, 
in  the  strictest  meaning  of  that  term,  and  therefore  the 
possession  of  intelligence ;  that  is,  of  an  immaterial  and 
spiritual  power  of  "mind." 

The  application  of  these  methods  is  dependent  on 
certain  qualities  of  the  nervous  system,  and  more  par- 
ticularly of  the  nerve-centers,  that  are  directly  condi- 
tioned by  the  "plasticity"  of  the  nerve  elements.  The 
first  of  these  qualities  has  been  called  the  "integrating 
function,"  and  consists  in  "the  building  up  of  a  center 


^  Such  experiments  are  described  and  analyzed  by  R.  M.  Yerkes, 
The  Dancing  Mouse.  J.  B.  Watson's  Behavior  has  references  at 
the  end  of  each  chapter.  M.  F.  Washburn's  Animal  Mind  has  a 
good  bibliography. 

'  This  theme  is  well  developed  by  J.  M.  Baldwin  (Mental  Devel- 
opment in  the  Child  and  the  Race  and  Social  and  Ethical  Inter- 
pretations). A  briefer  presentation  is  given  in  his  Story  of  the 
Mind,    But  see  also  J.  B.  Watson,  op.  cit..  Chap.  VIII. 


Plasticity  and  Adjustment,  191 

to  greater  complexity  of  structure  through  new  stimu- 
lations." These  stimulations,  or  incoming  influences, 
often  conflict.  The  outlet  through  which  they  actually 
"discharge"  in  any  given  case  becomes  thereafter  a 
favorable  pathway,  a  channel  of  "least  resistance." 
Eventually  this  mode  of  procedure  nets  two  gains  for 
the  nerve-center :  "first,  its  habitual  reactions  become  a 
rockbed  ...  of  fixed  function  issuing  in  established 
paths  of  least  resistance ;  and  second,  the  center  grows, 
gaining  new  and  more  mobile  elements,  and  responding 
to  more  complex  and  difficult  motor  intuitions  [impres- 
sions], .  .  .  Not  only  has  the  center  become  fixed 
and  automatic  for  movements  at  first  painfully  learned, 
but  it  has  become  educated  [  !]  by  learning,  so  that  it 
acquires  new  combinations  more  easily."  ^  In  other 
words,  integration  affects  plasticity  in  two  ways:  first, 
it  narrows  its  scope,  since  it  leaves  the  nerve-center  no 
longer  indifferent  to  all  stimulations,  but  rather  favor- 
ing such  as  are  like  those  to  which  it  has  already  re- 
sponded. In  this  respect,  it  is  evident  that  integration 
is  an  essential  factor  in  the  formation  of  "habit."  In 
the  second  place,  integration  produces  greater  plastic- 
ity for  the  forming  of  new  combinations  that  are  at  all 
like  in  kind  to  the  combinations  already  effected.  This 
is  a  biological  basis  for  the  psychological  phenomena 
of  "apperception."  Furthermore,  according  as  the 
likeness  of  successive  stimulations  to  past  experi- 
ences is  more  or  less  pronounced,  will  there  be  a 
less   or   a   greater   need   of   "adaptation"   or   "accom- 


^  J.  M.  Baldwin,  Handbook  of  Psychology,  Vol.  II,  p.  28. 


192  Biological  Aspects  of  Faith. 

modation"  to  what  is  new  in  the  present  experience.^ 
The  integrating  function  calls  for  another  quality  in 
the  nerve-centers,  and  that  is  "retention."  Unless  some 
change,  however  minute,  be  wrought  in  the  nerve  struc- 
ture by  each  response  that  is  given  to  a  stimulus,  it  is 
difficult  to  conceive  how  "resistance"  should  gradually 
be  lessened  and  a  "habit"  of  response  should  be  devel- 
oped. "Retention  as  a  physiological  principle  may, 
therefore,  be  called  growth  in  functional  complexity; 
while  the  term  integration  refers  rather  to  growth  in 
structural  complexity."  A  third  quality,  which,  like 
retention,  is  involved  in  the  process  of  integration,  has 
been  called  "selection."  ^  Its  effect  is  to  produce  a  re- 
sult analogous  to  what  would  have  followed  from  pref- 
erence or  conscious  choice  in  man;  but  in  lower  organ- 
isms it  is  probably  to  be  accounted  for  as  a  corollary 
of  retention  or  an  expression  of  organic  memory.  Both 
retention  and  selection  modify  the  plasticity  of  the 
nerve-centers  and  thus  enter  as  elements  into  the  learn- 
ing process;  in  other  words,  they  are  factors  in  the 
series  of  processes  by  which  the  organism — animal  or 
man — becomes  "adjusted"  to  its  environment.^ 

From  the  viewpoint  of  Catholic  faith,  the  element  of 
"plasticity"  is  intimately  bound  up  with  the  very  con- 
cept of  man's  nature.     Man  is   a  creature  of  God.* 


'W.  James,  Talks  to  Teachers,  pp.  108  ff. 

2  Baldwin,  ibid.,  pp.  25-27. 

"  Cf.  Dr.  Shields,  Psychology  of  Education,  Lesson  X. 

*  Scholastic  philosophy  conveys  the  idea  of  man's  essential  im- 
perfection and  dependence  by  designating  him  an  acttis  vmpurus; 
that  is  to  say,  a  nature  good  in  itself  yet  possessed  of  essential 
inalienable  limitations. 


Plasticity  and  Adjustment,  193 

From  God  he  has  received  his  whole  being:  his  body, 
indirectly ;  his  soul,  directly.  The  very  power  to  which 
he  owes  his  existence  continually  renews  that  gift  by 
the  act  of  preservation,  or,  more  properly,  of  conserva- 
tion,^ of  which  man  is  the  recipient  during  the  term  of 
his  mortal  life  and  which  is  extended  to  his  soul  even 
beyond  the  grave.  Furthermore,  since  activity  is  both 
the  condition  and  the  evidence  of  life,  God  concurs  in 
every  act  that  man  performs,  and  He  concurs  accord- 
ing to  the  specific  degree  of  perfection  requisite  in  the 
act  when  regarded  as  a  real  physical  act.^  Without 
the  sustaining  hand  of  God,  man  would  fall  back  into 
his  original  nothingness.  Man,  therefore,  regarded 
merely  as  a  created  nature  and  without  reference  to 
his  specific  perfection  as  a  human  being,  is  by  the  very 
necessity  of  his  created  nature  inherently  "plastic"  in 
the  hand  of  God.  In  other  words,  he  is  plastic  in  the 
primary,  or  passive,  sense  of  that  term.  When,  however, 
we  consider  him  not  merely  as  a  creature,  not  even 
merely  as  an  organism,  but  rather  as  endowed  with  in- 


^-"Since  the  word  creation  in  its  passive  sense  expresses  the  term 
or  object  of  the  creative  act,  or,  more  strictly,  the  object  in  its 
entitative  dependence  on  the  Creator,  it  follows  that,  as  this  de- 
pendence is  essential,  and  hence  inamissible,  the  creative  act  once 
placed  is  co-extensive  in  duration  with  the  creature's  existence. 
However,  as  thus  continuous,  it  is  called  conservation,  an  act, 
therefore,  which  is  nothing  else  than  the  unceasing  influx  of  the 
creative  cause  upon  the  existence  of  the  creature.  Inasmuch  as 
that  influx  is  felt  immediately  on  the  creature's  activity,  it  is  called 
concurrence.  Creation,  conservation,  and  concurrence  are,  there- 
fore, really  identical  and  only  notionally  distinguished."  Rev.  F. 
P.  Siegfried,  "Creation,"  Catholic  Encyclopedia,  Cf.  B.  Boedder, 
S.  J.,  Natural  Theology,  pp.  348  ff. 

*We  are  not  here  concerned  with  the  moral  aspect  of  the  act. 


194  Biological  Aspects  of  Faith, 

telligence,  and  therefore  capable  of  appreciating  his 
state  of  essential  dependence,  then  we  perceive  that  he 
is  bound  by  the  dictates  of  right  reason  to  endeavor  to 
make  his  conduct  square  with  this  relation  of  intrinsic 
dependence.  In  his  efforts  to  "adjust"  himself  to  the 
requirements  of  this  higher  law,  he  shows  "plasticity" 
in  the  second,  or  active,  sense. 

Now,  the  Catholic  Church  teaches  that  God  "will 
have  all  men  to  be  saved" ;  ^  that,  although  without  Him 
they  can  do  nothing,^  yet  with  Him  they  can,  like  St. 
Paul,  do  all  things  ^  in  virtue  of  the  "plentiful  redemp- 
tion" *  wrought  for  them  by  the  Saviour,  the  merits  of 
which  they  may  secure  for  themselves  through  prayer 
and  the  reception  of  the  sacraments.  There  can  be  no 
question,  therefore,  that  the  revelation  made  by  Christ 
confirms  the  conclusion  already  drawn  by  natural  rea- 
son, viz.,  that  with  reference  to  the  action  of  their  Cre- 
ator all  men  have  a  sufficient  store  of  potential  plas- 
ticity for  concurring  in  the  divine  plan  of  their  ever- 
lasting salvation.  How  else  are  we  to  explain  the 
Saviour's  words:  "I  lay  down  My  life  for  My  sheep. 
And  other  sheep  I  have  that  are  not  of  this  fold:  them 
also  I  must  bring,  and  they  shall  hear  My  voice,  and 
there  shall  be  one  fold  and  one  shepherd"  ?  ^  Further- 
more, that  all  men  are,  with  the  divine  assistance,  cap- 


^  1  Tim.  ii,  4. 

'  John  XV,  6.    This  truth  is  further  emphasized  by  other  words  in 
the  same  verse:  "I  am  the  vine,  you  are  the  branches." 
» Phil,  iv,  13. 
*Ps.  cxxix,  7. 
» John  X,  16,  16. 


Plasticity  and  Adjustment,  195 

able  of  assimilating  what  is  necessary  for  the  suste- 
nance of  their  spiritual  life  is  implied,  on  the  one  hand, 
in  the  Saviour's  injunction  to  His  apostles  to  "teach 
all  nations"  ^  and,  on  the  other,  in  the  warning  to  their 
hearers  not  to  harden  their  hearts.^  Hardness  of  heart 
is,  in  the  spiritual  order,  the  analogue  of  that  "rigidity" 
in  organic  life  which,  the  biologist  asserts,  precludes 
all  possibility  of  adjustment  to  even  an  improved  en- 
vironment and  which,  therefore,  spells  degeneration  and 
destruction  for  the  organism.  For  all  men  this  day  of 
mortal  life  is  an  "acceptable  time,"  a  time  for  the  work- 
ing out  of  salvation,^  if  so  be  that  men  be  "humbled" 
(plastic)  under  the  mighty  hand  of  God,  that  He  may 
exalt  them  in  the  time  of  His  final  visitation.* 

The  whole  plan  of  the  sacramental  system  sets  forth 
in  the  clearest  light  the  fundamental  truth  that  the 
Church  looks  upon  the  "plasticity"  of  her  children  as 
axiomatic.  That  quality  is  indeed  an  indispensable  con- 
dition in  her  mission  as  guardian  of  souls.  For  the 
proper  reception  of  the  sacraments  certain  dispositions 
are  requisite  on  the  part  of  the  subject  who  receives 
the  sacraments,  some  of  these  dispositions  being  remote 
and  in  so  far  a  preparation  for  the  proximate  disposi- 
tions. When  the  subject  is  thus  duly  disposed,  he  is 
better  "adapted"  or  "adjusted,"  to  receive  the  special 
benefit — the  sacramental  grace — ^which  the  sacrament 


^  Matt,  xxviii,  19. 
^  Ps.  xciv,  8. 
^2  Cor.  vi,  2. 
*  1  Pet.  V,  6. 


196  Biological  Aspects  of  Faith, 

is  fitted  to  confer.  This  is  strikingly  illustrated  in  the 
case  of  baptism  and  penance,  the  "sacraments  of  the 
dead."  While  for  the  reception  of  baptism  by  such  per- 
sons as  have  attained  the  use  of  reason,  certain  dispo- 
sitions are  requisite,  yet  it  is  the  peculiar  privilege  of 
the  sacrament  to  bestow  on  the  recipient  a  special  gift 
of  "plasticity"  or  "sensitivity"  to  the  further  influx  of 
divine  grace.  This  plasticity,  therefore,  becomes  an 
important  factor  in  conserving  the  gains,  or  graces,  de- 
rived from  the  sacraments  of  the  living.  What  is  true 
of  the  sacraments  in  general  is  true  in  particular  of 
many  sacraments  that  may  be  repeated,  notably  of  the 
holy  eucharist:  for  each  communion  when  made  with 
becoming  preparation  and  devotion  not  only  sets  a  seal 
on  the  spiritual  development  already  attained  by  the 
individual;  it  also  disposes  him  to  derive  greater  benefit 
from  succeeding  communions.  In  the  sacramental  sys- 
tem as  applied  by  the  Catholic  Church  we  thus  find  a 
notable  illustration  of  the  genetic  idea,  or,  in  biological 
terminology,  of  the  principle  of  development.  The  sac- 
raments tend  to  conserve  to  the  individual  what  is  good 
in  his  past,  much  as  habit  might  do  (Do  they  not 
strengthen  and  increase  "habitual,"  or  sanctifying, 
grace.?),  and  to  prepare  him  for  gaining  greater  profit 
henceforth  by  increasing  his  capacity  for  future  good. 

Nor  is  this  realized  in  the  case  of  the  sacraments 
only,  the  food  for  sustaining  the  spiritual  life  of  the 
Christian.  It  is  true  also  of  the  truths  which  the 
Church  proposes  for  his  belief:  they  are  the  soil  from 
which  the  sacraments  spring.    Indeed,  the  very  epitome 


Plasticity  and  Adjustment.  197 

of  Christian  faith  which  we  call  the  Apostles'  Creed 
exemplifies  the  principle  of  development  in  the  succes- 
sion of  its  twelve  articles.  Another  instance  of  the  same 
principle  is  evinced  by  the  Church  in  her  liturgy;  for 
example,  in  the  distribution  of  the  great  feasts  over 
the  ecclesiastical  year  from  the  first  Sunday  of  Advent 
to  the  last  Sunday  after  Pentecost/  Now  sacraments 
and  creed  and  ritual  supply  the  spiritual  energy  to  be 
expended  in  the  observance  of  the  commandments  and 
the  fulfillment  of  the  duties  special  to  one's  state  or 
calling.  The  Christian  must  therefore  be  "plastic" 
with  reference  to  the  sacraments,  in  order  to  assimilate 
to  his  spiritual  life  their  general  and  special  graces ;  he 
must  be  plastic  in  intellect  in  order  to  accept  the  re- 
vealed truths  taught  by  the  Church ;  he  must  be  plastic 
in  his  emotions,  especially  in  the  more  complex  and 
more  spiritual  emotions,  in  order  to  respond  fittingly  to 
the  appeal  made  him  through  the  rites  and  ceremonies 
of  the  liturgy ;  he  must  be  plastic  in  will  in  order  to 
co-operate  with  both  actual  and  habitual  grace  by 
keeping  the  commandments   and  thereby   adjust  him- 

*  Father  Faber  calls  attention  to  this  in  The  Blessed  Sacrcmient: 
"The  feast  of  Corpus  Christi  does  not  come  after  the  Ascension  in 
unbroken  order,  as  one  feast  of  our  Lord  following  another,  nor 
even  at  once  after  Pentecost,  when  the  descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
had  been  as  it  were  the  fruit  of  the  Ascension  and  the  sweet  token 
of  the  strange  truth  that  it  could  ever  be  expedient  for  us  that 
our  Lord  should  go  away.  But  it  waits  until  the  Church  has  led  up 
all  her  mysteries  into  the  secret  fountain,  the  mother  mystery,  of 
the  Most  Holy  Trinity,  as  if  the  whole  collective  devotion  of  the 
year  rose  up  into  the  unapproachable  light,  and  fell  back  again 
in  showers  of  glory  and  in  streams  of  celestial  power  and  beauty 
upon  men  in  the  grand  and  consummating  mystery  of  the  Tran- 
substantiation."     (P.  23.) 


1^8  Biological  Aspects  of  Faith, 

self  to  the  standard  set  by  Christ  Himself :  "If  you  love 
Me,  keep  My  commandments."  ^ 

What  we  have  said  thus  far  concerns  the  plasticity 
of  the  novice  when  considered  merely  as  a  Christian. 
But  he  is  called  to  rise  above  the  level  of  mere  observ- 
ance of  the  commandments,  and,  by  daily  meditation  on 
the  revealed  truths,  by  frequent  confession  and  com- 
munion and  b}'^  deeper  appreciation  of  the  liturgical 
service,  to  strive  for  the  higher  plane  of  fidelity  to  the 
Gospel  counsels.  With  him  the  Christian  life  must  be 
a  habit,  and  on  this  solid  basis  he  must  construct  grad- 
ually his  adaptations  to  the  greater  demands  of  the 
religious  life.  He  is  thus  called  upon  to  illustrate  in 
his  own  life  as  novice  the  two  principles  of  organic  de- 
velopment emphasized  by  Professor  Baldwin  and  termed 
by  him  "habit"  and  "accommodation."  ^  The  former 
secures  "repetition  of  what  is  worth  repeating  with  the 
conservation  of  this  worth";  the  latter  produces^ 
"adaptation  of  the  organism  to  new  conditions  so  that 


^John  xiv,  15. 

^Mental  Development  in  the  Child  and  the  Race,  p.  170.  He 
subsequently  shows  the  application  of  the  principles  to  the  mental, 
social,  and  ethical  development  of  the  individual.  Thus  (p.  217) 
he  makes  the  statement:  "The  law  of  habit  is  simply  a  generaliza- 
tion all  the  way  through  the  facts  of  biology  and  psychology,  from 
the  various  applications  of  this  principle  of  imitation."  On  the 
very  same  page  he  asserts  that  "accommodation"  is  in  psychology 
the  equivalent  of  what  is  termed  "adaptation"  in  biology.  Or 
again  (pp.  225,  226)  where  we  read  that  the  genetic  theory  of 
emotion  should  be  brought  under  three  principles:  (1)  habit,  (2) 
accommodation,  (3)  dynamogenesis  (a  term  used  to  designate  the 
"regular  connection  between  the  sensory  and  the  motor  sides  of 
all  living  reactions"). — On  "dynamogenesis,"  see  Titcheners  re- 
marks {Text-hook  of  Psychology,  pp.  488  f.). 


Flasticity  and  Adjustment.  199 

it  secures,  progressively,  further  useful  reactions,  which 
at  an  earlier  stage  would  have  been  impossible."  Al- 
though habit  and  accommodation  are  primarily  biologi- 
cal concepts  and  are  used  in  that  sense  in  the  passage 
just  quoted,  yet  each  of  these  principles  must  daily  be 
utilized  by  the  novice  if  he  would  make  progress  in  the 
spiritual  life,  and  each  is  thus  brought  under  his  con- 
scious control.  It  is  therefore  advisable  to  postpone 
their  special  consideration  to  the  next  chapter,  in  which 
the  psychological  aspects  of  faith  as  a  pedagogical 
asset  for  the  novice  are  to  form  the  subject  of  discus- 
sion. 

To  sum  up,  we  may  say  that  in  the  three  depart- 
ments of  dogma,  or  truths  to  believe;  moral,  or  com- 
mandments to  keep ;  and  worship,  or  liturgical  service 
appealing  to  the  emotions  as  well  as  to  the  intellect  in 
order  to  interpret  it,  and  to  the  will  in  order  to  adjust 
one's  self  to  its  spirit,  the  plasticity  of  the  novice  re- 
garded merely  as  a  Christian  is  called  into  daily  if  not 
hourly  exercise,  to  the  end  that  the  Christian  point  of 
view  and  that  type  of  reaction  which  we  call  Christian 
conduct  may  become  habitual  with  him.  On  this 
habitual  basis  of  practical  Christian  life  he  is  to 
adapt  himself  to  the  additional  requirements  im- 
posed by  the  religious  life,  which,  in  turn,  are  also  to 
be  made  habitual  and  later  to  be  sanctioned  and 
confirmed  by  the  vows  of  poverty,  chastity,  and 
obedience.^  By  the  faithful  observance  of  the  Gospel 
counsels    he    will    be    enabled    to    adjust    himself    to 


'  See  above,  pp.  69-65,  "The  Spirit  of  the  Novitiate," 


200  Biological  Aspects  of  Faith, 

still  higher  levels  of  perfection  according,  on  the 
one  hand,  to  the  nature  of  God's  special  call,  and,  on 
the  other,  to  the  strength  and  duration  of  his  fervor 
and  to  the  constancy  of  his  correspondence  to  divine 
grace.  All  this,  when  translated  into  biological  terms, 
means  that  the  novice  receives  constantly  the  stimula- 
tion of  divine  grace.  To  this  he  must  respond  uni- 
formly with  appropriate  reactions  according  to  the 
measure  of  his  ability  if  he  is  to  attain  the  normal  de- 
velopment proper  to  members  of  a  religious  order.  Ac- 
cordingly as  he  reacts,  will  he  be  "adjusted"  for  the 
reception  of  still  greater  graces,  which  in  turn  will 
become  the  stimuli  calling  for  more  perfect  reactions 
on  his  part.  Each  level  of  virtue,  like  each  new  inte- 
gration of  the  biologist — which  the  novice  attains  after 
the  stress  and  strain  of  spiritual  combat,  the  analogue 
of  the  biologist's  "struggle  for  existence" — is  but  a 
stage  in  the  entire  process  of  "development"  to  which 
his  whole  life  as  religious  must  be  devoted. 

Article  V, — Summary. 

I.  Heredity,  in  contradistinction  to  environment 
and  training,  is  the  dominant  principle  of  the  eugenists. 
They  insist  that  "nature"  is  superior  to  "nurture," 
that  "blood"  counts  more  than  "breeding,"  that  degen- 
eracy in  the  organism  can  be  remedied  only  by  extrinsic 
influence,  if  indeed  it  can  be  remedied  at  all.  Now, 
heredity  has  its  analogue  in  the  teaching  of  the  Cath- 
olic Church  concerning  both  original  sin  and  its  great 
complement,    the    mystery    of    the    Redemption,      By 


Summary.  201 

Adam's  transgression  the  human  race  forfeited  its 
supernatural  life,  a  far  greater  evil,  from  the  Christian 
standpoint,  for  the  individual  and  for  the  social  organ- 
ism than  physical  degeneracy  is  or  can  become.  It  like- 
wise forfeited  its  right  to  final  and  everlasting  associa- 
tion with  the  angels  confirmed  in  glory.  But  for  the 
coming  of  the  Redeemer,  it  had  been  therefore  con- 
demned to  a  social  isolation  far  more  terrible  and  far 
more  enduring  than  that  devised  by  the  eugenist  for  the 
physical  degenerate  whom  he  would  also  reduce  to  the 
condition  of  a  social  outcast.  Although,  even  at  his 
best  estate,  man  will  ever  retain,  like  scars  of  wounds 
that  have  healed,  unmistakable  traces  of  his  fallen  state, 
yet  he  has  a  healing  remedy  for  his  wounds  ready  to 
hand  in  the  boundless  merits  of  the  Saviour's  passion 
and  death.  When  applied,  these  merits  become  an  in- 
trinsic element  of  man's  soul.  They  constitute  the  very 
"life"  of  his  soul.  The  opportunities  afforded  the 
novice  for  applying  these  merits  are  beyond  human 
calculation. 

II.  Just  as  the  qualities  inherited  by  an  organism 
will  not  develop  except  under  favorable  conditions  and 
surroundings,  so  for  the  development  by  the  novice  of 
the  heritage  purchased  for  him  by  Christ's  precious 
blood  a  suitable  environment,  physical,  mental,  and 
moral,  must  be  provided.  To  secure  the  first  of  these 
conditions,  it  is  not  unusual  for  religious  orders  to 
choose  for  their  novitiates  sites  remote  from  the  bustle 
of  large  towns,  on  the  one  hand,  and,  on  the  other,  pos- 
sessed of  various  scenic   attractions.       In  the  former 


202  Biological  Aspects  of  Faith. 

respect  they  take  lesson  from  the  early  "Fathers  of  the 
Desert ;"  in  the  latter,  from  the  pioneer  "Monks  of  the 
West."  The  construction  of  the  desired  "mental"  en- 
vironment is  gradually  wrought  by  selective  attention 
to  the  Christian  aspect,  or  meaning,  or  application  of 
the  material  environment.  This,  in  turn,  leads  inevi- 
tably to  the  utilization  of  one's  surroundings  for  moral 
ends,  especially  for  individual  progress  in  the  religious 
life  and  for  the  promotion  of  the  spiritual  welfare  of 
others. 

III.  The  "plasticity"  of  her  children  the  Catholic 
Church  assumes  to  be  axiomatic.  She  could  else  have 
no  mission  here  on  earth.  This  plastic  or  receptive  at- 
titude must  have  a  threefold  application:  to  the  truths 
proposed  for  belief ;  to  the  sacraments  to  be  received  as 
well  as  to  the  liturgic  rites  attending  their  administra- 
tion; and  to  the  commandments  to  be  observed.  The 
"habit"  of  Christian  living  adapts  one  to  a  higher 
standard  than  that  of  the  mere  observance  of  the  deca- 
logue ;  it  "accommodates"  the  novice  to  the  demands  of 
the  Gospel  counsels.  In  proportion  as  he  is  faithful  in 
living  up  to  their  requirements  does  he  find  opening 
before  him  ever  widening  vistas  of  greater  spiritual 
heights  to  be  climbed.  As  his  plasticity  is  to  end  only 
with  his  death,  so  his  religious  development  is  to  be  the 
work  of  his  whole  life. 

In  the  Religious  Novitiate,  therefore,  in  addition  to 
that  "heredity"  which  is  involved  in  the  transmission  of 
original  sin  and  is  therefore  connected  with  the  mys- 
teries   of    the   Incarnation    and   the   Redemption,   the 


Summary,  203 

principles  of  environment,  plasticity,  and  adjustment, 
have  a  deeper  meaning  and  a  wider  application  than  in 
the  domain  of  plant  or  animal  biology.  They  apply  to 
higher  planes  of  life  than  is  possible  for  the  mere  or- 
ganism or  even  for  mere  man;  for  they  apply  to  a  life 
established  and  constituted  by  the  Saviour  of  mankind ; 
a  life  into  which  He  initiated  His  disciples,  and  to 
whom,  as  is  insinuated  by  their  very  name  of  "dis- 
ciples," He  imparted  the  method  of  that  all  important 
"learning  process"  which  transforms  the  mere  natural 
man  into  the  devoted  follower  of  Christ. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


PSYCHOLOGICAI.    AsPECTS    OF    FaITH. 


Article  L — -General  Survey, 

Psychology  is  very  generally  said  to  be  "the  science 
of  mind."  ^  From  a  pedagogical  point  of  view,  such 
a  definition  is  unfortunate.  We  may  indeed  admit 
that  science  is  concerned  with  "facts,"  and  that  its 
method  of  procedure  is  "observation."  ^  But,  in  prac- 
tice, the  term  "mind"  puts  the  emphasis  upon  the  proc- 
esses of  cognition  and,  in  so  far,  relegates  to  a  sub- 
ordinate position  the  equally  important  processes  of 
volition.^  Under  such  circumstances  it  helps  matters 
little  to  say  that  "the  psychologist  .  .  .  describes 
and  measures — so  far  as  he  is  able  to  measure — the  phe- 


'Cf.  E.  B.  Titchener,  A  Begirmer's  Psychology  (1916),  p.  6. — 
Father  Maher  {Psychology,  p.  1)  tells  us  that  "in  strict  language 
the  word  mind  designates  the  animating  principle  as  the  subject 
of  consciousness,  while  soul  refers  to  it  as  the  root  of  all  forms 
of  vital  activity" 

^  Ibid.,  pp.  1,  19.  The  same  principles  will  be  found  in  §§  1-9 
of  his  Text-hook  of  Psychology  (1915)  for  more  advanced  pupils. 

'This  appears  in  Titchener's  description  of  attention  {Be- 
ginner's Psychology,  Chap.  IV,  pp.  91,  92;  Text-hook,  pp.  265-267) ; 
and  in  his  account  of  the  will  {Beginner's  Psychology,  p.  225; 
Text-hook,  pp.  466  ff.).  However,  in  the  history  of  philosophic 
thought,  we  find  the  Scotist  school  decidedly  voluntaristic  in  atti- 
tude as  contrasted  with  the  Thomistic  or  intellectualistic  school. 
Cf.  W.  Turner,  History  of  Philosophy,  pp.  386,  390,  391. 

204 


General  Survey.  ^05 

nomena  of  his  world,  without  assuming  any  active  or 
perduring  mind  in  the  background;  for  him,  mind  is 
simply  the  inclusive  name  of  all  these  phenomena,''  ^ 
Such  a  statement,  however,  suggests,  if  it  does  not  dis- 
close the  fact,  that  one  reason  for  the  preference  shown 
to  the  term  ''mind"  is  really  opposition,  more  or  less 
covert,  to  the  use  of  "soul."  It  further  confirms  a 
fundamental  contention  of  Dr.  F.  W.  Foerster,  that 
one  of  the  cardinal  defects  in  our  modern  systems  of 
education,  outside  of  the  Catholic  Church,  is  just  this 
insistence  on  the  intellectual  side,  in  the  training  of 
youth,  to  the  serious  detriment  of  the  work  of  shaping 
character  and  conduct.^  The  Schoolmen  followed  the 
lead  of  Aristotle.  Both  admitted  that  "science  deals 
not  with  values,  but  with  facts,"  and  "is  on  that  ac- 
count impersonal  and  disinterested."  ^     The  neo-scho- 


^  Beginner's  Psychology,  p.  9. 

^'Cf.  footnotes,  pp.  17,  96-98,  above. 

'Titchener,  Beginner's  Psychology,  pp.  1,  2,  3.  Narrowness  of 
vision  in  certain  psychologists  has  now  led  to  the  opposite  ex- 
treme, lake  other  historic  reactions,  this  one  is  "human,"  and 
consequently  not  an  affair  of  mere  intellect  or  "mind."  It  will  be 
found  tinged  now  and  again  with  emotion.  It  has  assumed  two 
leading  forms:  Pragmatism,  an  offshoot  of  "Humean"  Psychology, 
and  Behaviorism,  which  must  be  examined  in  the  light  of  Com- 
parative Psychology.  In  both  of  these  movements  there  are  ele- 
ments to  commend,  even  if  there  are  principles  and  applications 
to  condemn.  In  one  respect  Pragmatism  is  a  corollary  of  the  law 
of  adaptation  and  consequently,  within  due  limits,  has  some 
correlations  with  the  law  of  Christian  charity.  Behaviorism,  too, 
has  points  of  vital  contact  with  that  religion  which  teaches  that 
"faith  without  works  is  dead"  (James  ii,  17).  Cf.  Matt,  vii,  21; 
XXV,  31-46 ;  1  John  iii,  2,  3 ;  iv,  20.  On  pragmatism  see  Rev.  J.  T. 
Driscoll,  Pragmatism  and  the  Problem  of  the  Idea, 


206  Psychological  Aspects  of  Faith. 

lastic  philosophers  of  our  own  day  define  psychology 
in  its  most  general  sense  as  "the  science  of  the  soul 
and  its  operations,"  ^  including  under  the  latter  term 
what  many  leaders  in  this  science  call  "conscious  proc- 
esses." They  are  careful  to  note  that  "soul"  is  here 
to  be  interpreted  as  synonymous  with  "life  principle." 
For  the  existence  of  such  a  principle,  really  distinct 
and  separable  in  man  from  the  material  organism, 
though  constituting  essentially  or  metaphysically  one 
unitary  being  or  nature  with  the  living  bod}^,  they 
give  adequate  arguments  based  upon  careful  observa- 
tion of  vital  processes.  Accordingly,  following  Aris- 
totle, they  distinguish  three  kinds  of  "soul":  in  plants, 
a  vegetative  principle,  whose  operations  are  always  un- 
conscious;  in  animals,  a  sentient  principle,  the  source 
of  conscious  life  and  motion  as  also  of  the  vegetal  func- 
tions ;  and  in  man,  above  these  and  often  controlling 
and  always  utilizing  their  functions,  an  intellectual  or 
super-material  principle  by  which  he  reasons  and  de- 
liberates, decides  and  chooses. 

Life,  as  we  know  it,  is,  for  the  most  part,  manifested 
in  and  through  matter.  It  is  a  principle  permeating 
the  entire  organism,  and  not  a  separate  existence.^  It 
is  through  the  organism  that  it  is  influenced  by  environ- 
ment; it  is  the  source  whence  the  organism  derives  its 
plasticity.   Being  in  its  very  essence  an  immaterial  and 


^  Cf .  M.  Maher,  S.  J.,  "Psychology,"  OathoUc  Encyclopedia.    See 
also  his  bibliography. 

^  In  the  case  of  man,  however,  it  is  separable  and  actually  sep- 
arated at  death,  remaining  separate  until  the  general  resurrection. 


General  Survey.  207 

therefore  a  simple  principle,^  it  gives  unity  to  the  nature 
and  the  operations  of  the  organism.  However,  during 
the  last  quarter  century  or  more  it  has  become  an  estab- 
lished custom  to  refer  questions  concerning  the  nature, 
origin,  duration,  and  destiny  of  the  human  soul  to  the 
"philosophy  of  mind'^  ^  and  to  limit  the  term  "psy- 
chology" to  the  science  that  describes  and  explains  the 
mental  processes  of  the  individual  primarily,  and  then 
of  the  community,  society,  or  race  of  which  he  is  a 
member.  This  is  the  sense  of  Wundt's  definition:  "the 
science  which  investigates  the  whole  content  of  Experi- 
ence in  its  relations  to  the  Subject."  ^    The  differentia- 


^  St.  Thomas,  Qucpstiones  Disputatce:  De  Anima,  1;  Card.  Zig- 
liara,  Summa  Philosophica,  Vol.  II,  pp.  106-214;  J.  T.  DriscoU, 
Christian  Philosophy:  The  Soul,  Chaps.  I,  III,  V,  VI,  VIII;  J.  L. 
Perrier,  Revival  of  Scholastic  Philosophy  in  the  Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury, pp.  115  fF. 

^Cf.  G.  T.  Ladd,  Philosophy  of  Mind.  Catholic  philosophers 
often  treat  such  questions  under  the  general  head  of  Rational 
Psychology:  e.  g,,  M.  Maher,  Psychology,  Empirical  and  Rational, 

'  Grundriss  (Outlines),  p.  3.  By  "experience"  both  Wundt  and 
Titchener,  who  studied  under  him,  mean  sense-experience.  They 
deny  any  radical  or  essential  distinction  between  sense  and  intellect 
(Cf.  Titchener,  Text-hook,  p.  8) ;  as  also  between  internal  experi- 
ence, i.  e.,  knowledge  of  our  mental  states,  and  external  experi- 
ence, i.  e.,  knowledge  of  a  reality  other  than  the  experiencing  sub- 
ject. "If  it  is  true,"  says  Titchener  (op.  cit.,  p.  6),  "that  all  the 
sciences  have  the  same  sort  of  subject-matter  [an  unwarranted 
assumption],  there  can  be  no  essential  difference  between  the  raw 
materials  of  physics  and  the  raw  materials  of  psychology.  Matter 
and  mind,  as  we  call  them,  must  be  fundamentally  the  same 
thing."  Such  tenets  are  diametrically  opposed  to  the  fundamental 
principles  of  Christianity.  The  same  errors  abound  in  the  recent 
pragmatic  movement  in  philosophy  and  psychology,  which  has 
extended  into  the  field  of  education  (Cf.  J.  T.  Driscoll,  Pragma- 
tism and  the  Problem  of  the  Idea,  pp.  18,  19,  24,  25,  76,  130  and 
Chap.  XII.)  Among  the  educators  who  are  typical  exponents  of 
these  views  aye  John  Dewey,  of  Columbia  University,  and  most 


208  Psychological  Aspects  of  Faith. 

tion  between  these  two  methods  of  investigating  "mind" 
is  a  natural  consequence  of  the  development  both  of 
modern  science  in  general  and  more  particularly  of  the 
application  of  experimental  methods  to  the  study  of 
mental  processes  and  mental  growth/  Although  ped- 
agogy has  received  much  help  from  various  lines  of 
investigation  prosecuted  in  psychological  laboratories, 
yet  the  results  attained  are  as  yet  too  detached  and 
fragmentary  to  constitute  a  system  of  scientific  knowl- 
edge for  the  actual  or  prospective  teacher/  Accord- 
followers  of  the  late  William  James.  Many  of  the  articles  in 
Monroe's  Cyclopedia  of  Education  are  infected  with  the  same 
taint. — It  is  to  be  noted  that  Father  DriscoU  uses  the  term  "idea" 
in  the  strict  sense  of  the  scholastic  philosophers,  viz.,  that  of  in- 
tellectual concept,  of  immaterial  and  spiritual  representation  of 
the  nature  or  meaning  of  an  object. 

*  Thai:  experimental  psychology  as  such  is  not  at  all  in  conflict 
with  Catholic  tenets  and  the  Catholic  spirit  follows  from  the 
establishment  at  Louvain,  in  1891,  of  the  "Institut  de  Philosophic" 
under  the  direction  of  Mgr.  (now  Cardinal)  Mercier,  and  from 
work  done,  for  example,  at  the  Catholic  University  of  America 
by  Drs.  Pace,  Shields,  Moore  and  Ulrich;  and  at  St.  Joseph's 
Seminary,  Dunwoodie,  N.  Y.,  by  Dr.  Herrick.  Among  non-Cath- 
olics in  the  United  States  to-day  the  most  prominent  exponent 
of  experimental  methods  is  Professor  E.  B.  Titchener. 

^  Cf.  W.  James,  Talks  to  Teachers  (p.  7) :  "In  my  humble 
opinion  there  is  no  *new  psychology'  worthy  of  the  name.  There 
is  nothing  but  the  old  psychology  which  began  in  Locke's  time 
[sic],  plus  a  little  psychology  of  the  brain  and  senses  and  theory 
of  evolution,  and  a  few  refinements  of  introspective  detail,  for  the 
most  part  without  adaptation  to  the  teacher's  use.  It  is  only 
the  fundamental  conceptions  of  psychology  which  are  of  real 
value  to  the  teacher;  and  they,  apart  from  the  aforesaid  theory 
of  evolution,  are  very  far  from  being  new."  Yet  Titchener,  in  the 
two  works  already  cited,  presents  a  fine  array  of  facts.  His  in- 
terpretations, however,  are  at  times  vitiated  by  the  "double-aspect" 
theory,  which  he  confuses  with  "psychophysical  parallelism" 
{Text-hook,  pp.  13-15).  His  "ideas"  are  all  Locke-ian.  He 
admits  no  immaterial,  no  spiritual  concepts. 


General  Survey,  209 

ingly,  in  our  consideration  of  psychological  aspects  of 
faith,  we  shall  have  to  draw  largely,  although  by  no 
means  exclusively,  from  the  domain  of  "descriptive  and 
explanatory"  psychology. 

"Science  seeks  always  to  answer  three  questions  in 
regard  to  its  subject-matter,  the  questions  of  what, 
how,  and  why.  What  precisely,  stripped  of  all  compli- 
cations and  reduced  to  its  lowest  terms,  is  this  subject- 
matter  ?  How,  then,  does  it  come  to  appear  as  it  does ; 
how  are  its  elements  combined  and  arranged?  And, 
finally,  why  does  it  appear  now  in  just  this  particular 
combination  and  arrangement?  .  .  .  To  answer 
the  question  Vhat'  is  the  task  of  analysis.  .  .  .  To 
answer  the  question  'how'  is  the  task  of  synthesis. 
But  science  .  .  .  answers  the  question 
Vhy'  by  laying  bare  the  cause  of  which  the  observed 
phenomena  are  the  effect."  So  speaks  Professor  Titch- 
ener.^  Admitting  his  premises,  we  are  justified  in 
drawing  these  conclusions:  (1)  The  psychologist  who 
devotes  himself  especially  to  answering  the  question 
"what,"  takes  "analytical"  or  "structural"  psychol- 
ogy for  his  peculiar  field  of  labor.  Professors  E.  C. 
Sanford  and  E.  B.  Titchener  are  examples  in  point. 
(2)  The  psychologist  who  is  busied  with  answering  the 
question  "how,"  has  chosen  the  realm  of  "functional" 
psychology  for  the  exercise  of  his  activity.^     Most  of 


'  Text-hook,  pp.  36,  37. 

^The  line  of  distinction  drawn  between  "structural"  and  "func- 
tional" psychology  was  suggested  by  that  already  drawn  between 
anatomy  and  physiology;  "structural"  psychology  being  regarded 
as  the  analogue  of  anatomy,  and  "functional"  psychology  as  the 


210  Psychological  Aspects  of  Faith. 

the  work  of  Professors  William  James  and  J.  R.  Angell 
takes  this  point  of  view.  (3)  The  psychologist  who 
attempts  to  answer  the  question  "why,"  applies  the 
principle  of  development  to  a  most  interesting  sphere  of 
research,  one  rich  in  promise,  and  withal  of  vital  con- 
cern to  the  teacher.  This  is  the  sphere  of  "genetic" 
psychology,^  a  sphere  in  which  Professor  J.  M.  Bald- 
win worked  assiduously  for  many  years. ^ 


analogue  of  physiology.  The  student  who  is  familiar  with  the  his- 
tory of  scholastic  philosophy  will  go  a  step  farther  and  find  in 
the  idea  of  "first  act"  as  defined  by  the  Schoolmen,  viz.,  the  entire, 
or,  if  you  will,  integrated,  essence  or  nature  of  a  thing, — ^the  re- 
sult of  careful  "analysis."  He  will  therefore  recognize  in  their 
attitude  the  same  general  viewpoint  that  characterizes  the  struc- 
tural psychologist  of  to-day.  In  like  manner,  in  the  "second  act" 
of  the  Schoolmen — the  collective  name  for  all  the  operations  of  the 
thing — ^he  will  perceive  the  philosophical  ancestor  of  the  organic 
"functions"  which  are  so  conspicuous  in  the  psychological  litera- 
ture of  our  day.  Moreover,  since  "second  act"  invariably  gives 
expression  in  created  nature  (of  which  alone  it  is  rightly  predi- 
cate)  to  the  inner  nature  of  the  thing,  to  which,  consequently,  it 
bears  the  relation  of  effect  to  cause,  it  is  really  the  precursor  of 
modern  laboratory  investigations  made  with  a  view,  v.  g.,  to  de- 
termine the  nature  of  "perception"  or  "attention,"  or  "memory," 
or  "volition,"  etc.  "The  contrast  (between  structural  and  func- 
tional psychology)  is  really  between  two  aspects,  in  which  all 
mental  facts  without  exception  may  be  taken;  their  structural 
aspect,  as  being  subjective,  and  their  functional  aspect  as  being 
cognitive  [Cf.  the  distinction  between  sensation  and  perception}. 
.  .  .  From  the  cognitive  point  of  view,  all  mental  facts  are 
intellections.  [Not  accurate.  This  confuses  intellections  and  sen- 
sations.] From  the  subjective  point  of  view,  all  are  feelings 
[sic]."  Titchener,  "Psychology,  Structural,"  Monroe's  Cyclopedia 
of  Education. 

^Titchener  says  rightly  (loc.  cit.)  that  genetic  psychology  "may 
be  either  structural  or  functional,  and  should  rightly  be  both. 
Functional  psychology  stands  to  structural  as  physiology  to  mor- 
phology: there  is  no  reason  for  antagonism  between  the  two." 

=  See  above,  p.  149,  footnote  1. — G.  Stanley  Hall,  president  of 
Clark  University,  is  ajso  an  exponent  of  genetic  psychology.     His 


General  Survey.  211 

With  a  view  to  grasping  the  pedagogical  significance 
of  faith,  it  is  well  for  us  to  rehearse  briefly  the  prin- 
cipal topics  that  form  the  subject-matter  of  psychol- 
ogy as  presented  in  courses  given  to  normal  students. 
Many  of  them  are  paralleled  in  Professor  James'  Talks 
to  Teachers,  a  series  of  lectures  addressed  to  those  who 
are  already  engaged  in  the  schoolroom.  A  typical  an- 
notated list  of  subjects  was  published  by  Professor  E. 
L.  Thorndike  in  Teachers^  College  Record,  Vol.  11, 
No.  4  (Sept.,  1901).  It  consists  of  twenty-two  topics 
for  lectures  and  research  in  the  "elements  of  psychol- 
ogy," occupying,  when  taken  in  conjunction  with  the 
"applications  of  psychology  in  teaching,"  three  periods 
a  week  for  one  year.^  The  following  are  the  main  heads 
of  the  syllabus: 

1.  The  aim  of  psychology  and  the  nature  of  its  subject-matter; 
2.  common  technical  terms;  3.  the  physiological  basis  of  life;  4. 
characteristics  of  mental  life  in  general;  6.  the  function  of  mental 
life;  6.  unlearned  reactions  or  instincts;  7.  learned  reactions — ^ways 
of  learning;  8.  sensations;  9.  percepts;  10.  apperception;  11.  atten- 
tion; 12.  imagery  and  memories;  13.  the  order  of  our  thoughts; 
14.  discrimination;  16.  reasoning;  16.  induction  and  deduction;  17. 
the  emotions;  18.  purposive  action;  19.  automatic  action  and  habit; 


writings  must  be  read  with  caution.  He  draws  conclusions  that 
are  too  wide  for  the  premises  on  which  they  stand.  Some  of  his 
theories  are  opposed  to  Christian  principles.  See  below,  p.  227, 
note  3. 

*  Both  these  courses  are  required  of  "candidates  for  all  diplomas" 
in  Teachers  College,  Columbia  University,  New  York.  Candidates 
for  "the  elementary  and  kindergarten  diplomas"  must  also  follow 
a  course  in  "child  study"  of  two  periods  a  week  for  one  year. 

See  also  Report  of  the  Committee  on  the  Academic  Status  of 
Psychology.  The  Academic  Status  of  Psychology  in  the  Normal 
School   (American  Psychological  Association,  1916). 


2 IS  Psychological  Aspects  of  Faith, 

20.  suggestion;  21.  the  general  laws  of  mental  action;  22.  mental 
training. 

The  syllabus  of  the  course  in  "applications  of  psy- 
chology in  teaching"  is  outlined  under  these  heads: 

1.  General  introduction;  2.  plan  of  work;  3.  means  of  receiving 
stimuli  and  of  reaction  to  them;  4.  general  mental  functions;  5. 
apperception;  6.  attention;  7.  the  association  of  ideas;  8.  compre- 
hension, reasoning,  logical  and  abstract  thinking;  9.  memory;  10. 
imagery;  11.  the  emotions;  12.  the  active  side  of  mental  life;  13. 
habits;  14.  suggestion;  15.  interests;  16.  mental  training;  17.  in- 
centives and  deterrents  [motivation] ;  18.  the  application  of  the 
fundamental  law  of  mind.^ 

From  these  two  syllabi  we  seemed  to  be  justified  in 
drawing  up  this  tentative  outline  of  our  own: 

The  immediate  aim  of  psychology  is  knowledge  of 
our  mental  processes.  Herein  both  experimental  and 
descriptive  psychology  come  to  our  aid.  Such  knowl- 
edge implies  some  examination  into  the  origin  of  these 
processes,  the  influences  by  which  they  are  modified, 
and  the  results  to  which  they  lead.  These  topics  be- 
long to  functional   and  to  genetic   psychology,^  it  is 


^On  the  "transfer  of  training,"  the  general  law  of  mental  ac- 
tion, see  Human  Nature  Club,  p.  180;  W.  C.  Ruediger,  Principles 
of  Education,  "Formal  Discipline,"  pp.  112-117;  E.  L.  Thorndike, 
Principles  of  Teaching,  p.  243.    Cf.  below,  pp.  300-309. 

^  Professor  Titchener  objects  to  the  expression  "genetic  method." 
He  says:  "In  strictness,  however,  there  is  no  such  thing  as  a 
genetic  method.  There  is  a  genetic  point  of  view,  as  there  is  a 
static  point  of  view.  We  may  be  interested  in  the  sequence  of 
mental  processes,  in  unraveling  the  tangle  of  a  special  sort  of  con- 
sciousness. But  the  difference  of  interest  does  not  mean  a  differ- 
ence of  method."  Text-hook,  p.  34. — Yet  see  quotation  from  Pro- 
fessor Dewey,  p.  16,  above. 


General  Survey,  213 

true,  but  they  likewise  presuppose  a  careful  analysis  of 
mental  states  performed  under  experimental  control. 

All  psychologists  agree  that  sensation  is  an  ele- 
mentary mental  process.  From  the  scholastic  view- 
point, with  which,  in  this  connection,  modern  research 
is  in  harmony,  it  is,  in  its  original  form,  the  subjective 
term  of  the  series  of  processes  which,  when  looked  at 
in  its  primary  objective  reference,  may  be  called  prim- 
itive perception.  It  is  by  perception  that  we  are  made 
subject  to  the  influence  of  environment;  and  conse- 
quently both  sensation  and  perception  are  phases  of 
that  general  plasticity  which  we  have  already  seen  to 
be  a  condition  of  learning.^ 

The  study  of  apperception  by  modern  psycholo- 
gists ^  has  shown  that  every  perception  leaves  a  "trace" 


^  See  above,  p.  188.  This  is  emphasized  by  Professor  James: 
"Plasticity,  then,  in  the  wide  sense  of  the  word,  means  the  posses- 
sion of  a  structure  weak  enough  to  yield  to  an  influence,  but  strong 
enough  not  to  yield  all  at  once.  Each  relatively  stable  phase  of 
equilibrium  in  such  a  structure  is  marked  by  what  we  may  call  a 
new  set  of  habits.  Organic  matter,  especially  nervous  tissue, 
seems  endowed  with  a  very  extraordinary  degree  of  plasticity  of 
this  sort;  so  that  we  may  without  hesitation  lay  down  as  our  first 
proposition  the  following,  that  the  phenomena  of  habit  in  living 
beings  are  due  to  the  plasticity  (in  the  sense  explained)  of  the 
organic  materials  of  which  their  bodies  are  composed/'  Principles 
of  Psychology,  Vol.  I,  p.  105. 

^  James,  Talks  to  Teachers,  p.  157,  defines  apperception  as  "the 
act  of  taking  a  thing  into  the  mind."  It  follows  the  law  of 
economy.  "We  instinctively  seek  to  disturb  as  little  as  possible 
our  pre-existing  stock  of  ideas"  (p.  159).  The  notion  of  apper- 
ception is,  however,  far  from  modern.  It  is  embodied  in  the 
principle  which  St.  Thomas  borrowed  from  Plotinus,  the  neo-Pla- 
tonic  philosopher  of  the  third  century,  viz.,  "Whatever  is  received 
is  received  according  to  the  nature  (or  state)  of  the  recipient." 
See  p.  236,  below. 


214  Psychological  Aspects  of  Faith. 

or  effect  in  the  organism/  which  not  only  modifies  sub- 
sequent perceptions  of  the  same  or  a  related  kind,  but 
also  affects  the  resultant  motion.  In  the  former  re- 
spect it  illustrates  the  biological  aspect  of  learning; 
in  the  latter,  it  exemplifies  a  cardinal  principle  of  be- 
haviorism, viz.,  that  "consciousness  operates  primarily 
in  directing  our  movements  and  controlling  our  be- 
havior." ^  "The  selective  grouping  of  the  sensory  con- 
stituents of  perception,  and  the  supplementing  of  the 
sense  group  by  images  are  the  cardinal  points  of  the 
doctrine  of  apperception  in  the  system  of  Wundt  and 
Herbart."  ^  Apperception,  therefore,  presupposes 
sensation  and  perception,  memory  and  imagination, 
as  well  as  the  exercise  of  selective  attention,  whether 
that  attention  be  primary  or  secondary;  whether, 
in  other  words,  we  are  compelled  to  give  it  or  we 
give  it  only  with  deliberate  effort.*  Perception,  in  turn, 
is  a  complex  process,  its  complexity  beginning  very 
early  in  the  child's  life.  From  that  time  on  in  the 
life  of  the  individual,  "perceptions  are  selected  groups 
of  sensations,  in  which  images  (themselves  resulting 
from  previous  sensations)  are  incorporated  as  an  in- 
tegral part  of  the  whole  process.    But   .    .   .   the  essen- 


^  Cf.  Titchener,  Text-hook,  pp.  396  f . 

^Colvin  and  Bagley,  Human  Behavior,  p.  3. 

^  E.  B.  Titchener,  Text-hook,  p.  366,  who  cites  references  to 
Wundt's  Outlines  and  Herbart's  Lehrhuch  zur  Psychologie.  His 
statement  on  p.  48  is  open  to  criticism:  "Images  are  the  char- 
acteristic elements  of  ideas  [in  Locke's  meaning  of  the  term],  of 
the  mental  pictures  that  memory  furnishes  of  past  and  imagination 
of  future  experience."  Man  has  also  spiritual  concepts.  These 
Professor  Titchener  seems  to  ignore. 

*Cf.  Titchener,  op.  cit.,  pp.  268,  276. 


General  Survey,  215 

tial  thing  about  them  ...  is  this — that  perceptions 
have  meaning.  Now,  it  takes  at  least  two  sensations 
[i.  e.,  cognitions]  to  make  a  meaning,"  ^  since  there  can 
be  no  meaning  without  a  "context."  Much  less,  let  us 
add,  can  there  be  "meaning"  without  an  intellect  to  ap- 
prehend it.  Our  feelings,  interests  and  emotions  modify 
our  perceptions  in  both  intensity  and  clearness,  shift- 
ing now  this  detail,  now  that  detail  from  the  margin 
to  the  focus  of  attention,  and  vice  versa.  Moreover, 
while  perceptions  are  integral  factors  in  the  building 
up  of  habit,  yet  in  the  apperceptive  "set"  or  "bent" 
which  they  slowly  but  surely  give  to  the  mind,  they 
illustrate  on  the  cognitive  side  the  same  propensity 
which  on  the  appetitive  side — that  is,  on  the  side  of  ex- 
pression— is  worked  out  in  motor  habits  of  mind  or 
body.  It  would  appear,  therefore,  that  the  one  topic 
of  perception  ramifies  into  nearly  every  department  of 
psychology.  Indeed,  this  is  what  we  should  expect; 
for  perception  is  an  act  of  man,  as  man,  and  its  exer- 
cise must  therefore  involve  the  whole  man.^ 

Apperceptions  of  a  given  kind  when  often  repeated 
tend  to  assume  the  characteristics  of  habit  and  eventu- 
ally to  result  in  what  is  known  as  one's  "personal  equa- 
tion," ^  that  is  to  say,  one's  customary  point  of  view 


^  Ibid.,  pp.  367,  368.  Cf.  Dr.  Shields,  Psychology  of  Education, 
Lesson  XVIII,  "Perception  and  Apperception." 

*  St.  Thomas  (De  Principio  Individuationis,  2)  in  discussing  the 
nature  and  functions  of  the  "ratio  particularis,"  considers  what 
we  to-day  call  perception;  but  he  is  there  concerned  with  only  its 
cognitive  aspect. 

'See  E.  C.  Sanford,  "The  Personal  Equation,"  American  Jour- 
nal of  Psychology,  Vol.  II  (1888),  pp.  3,  89,  271,  403. 


SI 6  Psychological  Aspects  of  Faith, 

toward  the  matter  in  question  and  one's  customary 
behavior  in  its  regard.  Both  these  aspects,  the  cogni- 
tive and  the  appetitive,  or  conative,  are  included  by 
psychologists  under  the  general  head  of  reactions  to  a 
situation,^  and  it  is  these  reactions,  especially  selective 
reactions,  that  determine  character,  "the  essential  part 
of  a  man."  ^  For  "character  is  that  expression  of  a 
man  which  is  most  constant,  habitual,  and,  in  conse- 
quence, most  unconscious,  unpremeditated,  genuine."  ^ 

^  "A  reaction  ...  is  a  movement  made  in  response  to  an 
external  stimulus."  (Titchener,  Text-hook ,  p.  428.)  "The  physical 
or  external  situation  is  the  whole  external  world  as  an  organism,  at 
any  given  moment,  takes  it;  it  consists  of  those  stimuli  to  which 
the  organism,  by  virtue  of  its  inherited  organization  and  its  pres- 
ent disposition,  is  responsive, — which  it  selects,  unifies,  focalizes, 
supplements,  and,  if  need  be,  acts  upon.  The  mental  or  internal 
situation  is,  in  like  manner,  some  imagination  or  memorial  [or 
intellectual]  complex  which  is  fitted,  under  the  conditions  obtain- 
ing in  the  nervous  system,  to  dominate  consciousness,  to  maintain 
itself  in  the  focus  of  attention,  to  serve  as  the  starting  point  for 
further  ideas  [in  the  broad  meaning  of  that  term]  or  for  action. 
To  put  the  definition  in  a  word,  a  situation  is  the  meaningful  ex- 
perience of  a  conscious  present".     (Ibid.,  p.  369.) 

^  This  thought  is  admirably  developed  by  Mgr.  Guibert  in  his 
little  book,  Le  CaracUre.  He  distinguishes  and  develops  three 
meanings  of  the  term:  as  the  distinctive  sign  in  a  man's  exterior; 
as  his  inner  moral  constitution;  as  his  moral  energy  (p.  3). 

« J.  M.  Baldwin,  Handbook  of  Psychology,  Vol.  II,  p.  363.  He 
draws  his  definition  from  the  principle  that  "action  is  the  only 
and  the  adequate  expression  of  a  man."  As  to  action  itself,  hear 
Titchener:  "In  its  most  general  meaning,  an  action  is  an  organized 
movement,  less  generally  it  is  a  movement  of  a  locomotor  organism ; 
for  psychological  purposes,  it  is  primarily  a  human  movement  with 
some  sort  and  degree  of  representation  in  consciousness."  Text- 
hook,  p.  448.  The  scholastic  concept  of  action  is  both  more  exact 
and  more  illuminating,  for  it  represents  the  action  as  here  and  now 
proceeding  froim  the  agent,  the  efficient  cause.  When  regarded  as 
modifying  the  agent,  it  is  called  "quality"  rather  than  action. 
When  viewed  as  a  connecting  link  between  cause  and  effect,  it  is 
termed  "relation."    As  "action,"  it  essentially  connotes  an  agent. 


General  Survey.  217 

When  the  situation  is  complex  and  the  appropriate  re- 
action is  therefore  problematic,  then,  and  then  onl}'', 
according  to  many  psychologists  of  our  day  do  we 
really  "think."  ' 

We  have  now  taken  a  brief  survey  of  the  subject- 
matter  of  psychology.  It  is  the  wont  of  recent  psy- 
chologists to  reduce  all  mental  phenomena  to  three 
great  classes.  In  the  words  of  Professor  Baldwin: 
"These  three  classes  express  the  result  of  three  distinct 
functions  of  the  mind:  Intellect,  Feeling,  and  Will, 
They  may  be  called:  1st,  Representative,  or  intellec- 
tual states;  Sd,  Affective,  or  states  of  feeling;  and  3d, 
Volitional,  or  states  of  will."  ^  While  the  general  plan 
of  this  division  is  good,  provided  psychology  be  limited 
to  mental  "processes"  and  the  nature  of  "mind"  or  soul 
be  relegated  to  philosophy,  yet  the  nomenclature  is 
singularly  unhappy  and  betrays  much  confusion  of 
thought.  This  confusion  may  be  remedied  by  chang- 
ing the  names  of  the  "three  distinct  functions"  to  cog- 
nition, feeling,  and  appetency.^  Although  this  tri- 
partite division  is  not  to  be  found  among  most  Catholic 
psychologists  of  an  earlier  age,  yet  it  presents  no  in- 


'  Cf .  Bk.  I,  p.  59,  above;  also  Colvin  and  Bagley,  Himian  Be- 
havior, Chap.  XVIII;  Dewey,  How  We  Think,  p.  205.  Titchener, 
Beginner's  Psychology,  Chap.  X;  Brother  Azarias,  Phases  of 
Thought,  Chap.  II. — For  criticism  of  this  view,  see  J.  T.  Driscoll, 
Pragmatism,  pp.  30-38. 

*  Handbook,  Vol.  I,  pp.  35,  36.  Cf .  E.  W.  Scripture,  Thinking, 
Feeling  and  Doing. 

'  Thus  Dr.  C.  A.  Dubray  (Introductory  Philosophy,  p.  28)  di- 
vides mental  processes  from  the  psychological  point  of  view  into 
three  groups:  cognition,  feeling,  and  con^-tion.  Cf.  F.  J.,  F,  S.  C, 
Cours  de  Philosophie,  p.  47, 


^18  Fsychological  Aspects  of  Faith, 

trinsic  ground  of  objection  and  indeed  has  much  to 
commend  it  when  psychology  is  considered  solely  from 
the  standpoint  of  natural  science.  But  in  that  event 
"cognition"  must  be  interpreted  as  a  generic  term  in- 
cluding under  it  two  distinct,  though  related,  orders  or 
species  of  knowledge,  viz.,  sensation  and  intellection. 
What  is  known  by  sense  is  the  material  and  individual 
and  concrete  as  such;  viz.,  this  color,  this  tone.  What 
is  known  by  the  intellect,  on  the  other  hand,  is  the 
general  or  universal,  the  abstract,  and  likewise  the  im- 
material and  spiritual,  such  as  justice  and  truth;  or  it 
is  something  that  does  not  connote,  does  not  include  in 
its  very  concept,  any  direct  reference  to  matter,  such 
as  being,  nature,  or  substance.  Similarly  appetency 
includes  two  species,  a  material  order,  that  of  the 
sensitive  or  sensuous  appetites,  whose  acts  are  "the  pas- 
sions," and  the  intellectual  or  rational  order  comprising 
the  acts  of  the  will.  As  to  feeling  with  its  direct  refer- 
ence to  pleasure  and  pain,  and  to  emotion, — the  name 
for  our  complex  affective  states, — these  likewise  must 
be  twofold,^  viz.,  sensitive  and  spiritual.     The  sensitive 


^  This  has  been  well  illustrated  and  correlated  to  the  older  dual 
division  of  the  Schoolmen  by  St.  George  Mivart,  American  Catholic 
Quarterly  Beview,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  301,  "Emotion."  This  article  is  too 
little  known. — Titchener,  in  his  latest  work  for  advanced  students, 
the  Text-hook,  discards  the  usual  tripartite  division  and  substi- 
tutes one  of  his  own.  "The  three  classes  of  elementary  processes 
are  known  as  sensations,  images,  and  affections.  Sensations  are, 
of  course,  the  characteristic  elements  of  perceptions,  of  the  sights 
and  sounds  and  similar  experiences  due  to  our  present  surround- 
ings. Images  are,  in  just  the  same  way,  the  characteristic  elements 
of  ideas,  of  the  mental  pictures  that  memory  furnishes  of  past 
and  imagination  of  future  experience.  .  .  .  Lastly,  affections 
are  the  characteristic  elements  of  emotions,  of  love  and  hate,  joy 


General  Survey.  ^19 

emotions  are  deeply  rooted  in  the  body  and  are  com- 
mon to  man  and  the  brute  animal/  The  spiritual  emo- 
tions, on  the  other  hand,  are  not  dominated  by  matter, 
but  utilize  it  under  the  guidance  of  intellect  for  the 
furtherance  of  spiritual  aims.  Many  of  them  are  com- 
mon to  saint  and  sage;  all  of  them  enter  largely  into 
the  motives  that  shape  behavior. 

It  must  be  admitted,  however,  that  Catholic  psy- 
chologists see  no  crying  need  for  an  absolute  divorce 
between  psychology  and  philosophy.  They  readily  ac- 
knowledge their  indebtedness  to  biology  in  general  and 
to  the  physiology  of  the  nervous  system  in  particular 
for  much  progress  in  their  chosen  domain.  Yet  they 
emphatically  deny  that  man  is  a  mere  biological  speci- 
men, a  mere  bundle  of  nerves.  They  find  in  him  activi- 
ties which,  though  dependent  on  matter  and  aided  by 
matter,  are  nevertheless  irreducible  to  mere  organized 
matter.  For  further  light  on  the  nature  of  these  activi- 
ties they  appeal  to  philosophy.  This  appeal  they  con- 
sider no  more  discreditable,  no  more  unscientific,  than 
is  the  acceptance,  on  the  part  of  Wundt  and  his  dis- 

and  sorrow"  (p.  48).  Titchener's  experiments  and  arguments 
(pp.  198,  199)  fail  to  prove  that  the  "image,"  as  he  defines  it,  is 
an  elementary  process.  He  even  admits  (p.  199)  that  it  might 
be  "better  to  consider  sensation  and  image  as  subclasses  of  a  par- 
ticular type  of  mental  element  [sic]  than  to  include  them  outright 
in  a  single  class."  This  would  bring  his  classification  into  closer 
harmony  with  the  "cognitions"  of  the  Schoolmen.  He  "smuggles" 
in  the  will  in  his  discussion  of  "secondary  attention"  {Beginner's 
Psychology,  p.  95).  He  implies  it  in  his  "acquired"  tendencies 
(p.  255),  where  he  does  define  it  so  loosely  as  to  make  it  equiva- 
lent in  a  way  to  the  appetencies  (appetitus)  of  the  Schoolmen. 

^  Cf.  the  James-Lange  theory  of  emotions,  p.  124.  For  critical 
exposition  of  it,  see  Titchener,  Text-book,  pp.  474-489. 


220  Psychological  Aspects  of  faith. 

ciples,  of  aid  from  physiological  investigations.  Many 
of  them,  in  consequence,  reduce  all  mental  phenomena 
to  the  two  great  classes  of  cognitions  and  appetencies, 
viz.,  to  knowledge  of  facts  and  principles,  on  the  one 
hand,  and  to  tendencies  to  real  or  apparent  good,  on 
the  other.^  This  division  has  the  advantage  also  of 
agreeing  with  the  present  status  of  biological  research ; 
for  our  nervous  mechanism  has  two  great  classes  of 
nerves :  sensory,  or  afferent,  nerves  to  receive  impres- 
sions from  our  surroundings ;  and  motor,  or  efferent, 
nerves  to  control  the  reactions  to  these  impressions.^ 
What  we  do  with  the  impressions  which  we  receive  will 
depend  on  the  state  of  our  whole  being,  body  and  soul, 
at  the  moment  of  receiving  them;^  in  other  words,  to 
use  the  terminology  affected  by  some  pedagogues,  it 
will  be  determined  by  our  "apperceptive  mass." 

In  order,  therefore,  to  estimate  the  pedagogical  value 
of  faith  as  the  novice  is  trained  to  exercise  it,  it  is  well 
for  us  to  consider  his  practice  of  faith  from  the  view- 
points of  (1)  perception,  (2)  apperception,  and  (S) 
will,  with  its  complement  of  reaction.  These  topics  will 
at  least  serve  to  point  the  way  and  to  suggest  the  rich 
harvest  to  be  reaped  from  adjoining  fields  of  psycho- 


^  Feeling  is  then  described  as  "the  affective  tone"  of  cognition. 
It  is  not  amiss  to  refer  here  to  Professor  James'  tribute  to 
"scholastic  orthodoxy,  to  which  one  must  always  go  when  one 
wishes  to  find  perfectly  clear  statement."  {The  Will  to  Believe^ 
p.  13.) 

^The  association  tracts  are  often  classed  with  the  sensory 
nerves  as  extensions  of  the  latter. 

'  See  above,  p.  213,  note  3,  and  p.  215. 


The  Physiological  Basis  of  Learning.       221 

logical  investigations,  fields,  however,  which  lie  outside 
the  limitations  of  this  book.  We  have  already  consid- 
ered the  "environment"  which  the  novice  perceives,  and 
the  "plasticity"  which  he  must  possess  if  that  environ- 
ment is  to  be  a  genuine  factor  in  his  training.  But  he 
must,  as  novice,  learn  to  assume  a  Christian  and  re- 
ligious attitude  toward  his  surroundings,  and  to  ad- 
just his  actions  accordingly.  It  is  only  when  such  an 
attitude  and  such  behavior  are  so  fully  his  as  to  be  ex- 
pressed easily,  uniformly  and  with  a  high  degree  of  per- 
fection that  he  has  really  mastered  this  "learning 
process"  and  transformed  it  into  a  habit.  It  is  there- 
fore incumbent  on  us  to  consider  the  stages  of  the  learn- 
ing process  and  their  bearing  on  the  development  of 
faith  by  the  novice. 

Article  IL — The  Physiological  Basis  of  Learning.^ 

The  topic  of  learning  is  one  of  the  most  compre- 
hensive that  can  engage  the  mind  of  man.  It  involves 
heredity  and  environment,  plasticity  and  adjustment — 
all  of  which  have  their  basis  in  biology.  In  psychology, 
it  includes  the  various  processes  of  association:  and 
therefore  it  implies,  on  the  cognitive  side,  both  percep- 
tion and  apperception,  as  factors  in  shaping  the  bent 


*  Practically,  the  process  of  learning  entails  a  consideration  from 
the  functional  viewpoint — often  also  from  the  genetic — of  all  the 
leading  topics  that  fall  within  the  scope  of  descriptive  psychology. 
It  shows  how  mental  states  or  elements  combine  to  promote  mental 
development.  There  is  a  good  brief  presentation  of  the  topic  in 
Colvin  and  Bagley^s  Hvmian  Behavior;  a  fuller  treatment  in  S.  S. 
Colvin's  Learning  Process, 


SS2  Psychological  Aspects  of  Faith, 

of  the  mind;  and,  on  the  appetitive  or  motor  side,  ex- 
pression of  this  bent  in  those  words  and  deeds  which 
eventually  fix  and  reinforce  habit  and  behavior.  In 
pedagogy  it  is  intimately  connected  with  attention  and 
interest  and  inhibition  as  factors  in  motivation.  In 
sociology,  too,  it  appears  as  a  vital  element,  for  even 
the  genius  must  learn  from  his  fellows  as  they  in  turn 
must  learn  from  him.  The  schoolhouse  is  but  a  con- 
crete embodiment  of  the  social  aspect  of  learning.  All 
this  holds  in  the  purely  natural  order.  In  the  super- 
natural order,  the  Catholic  recognizes  and  respects  in 
his  Church  the  divinely  appointed  source  whence  he  is 
to  learn  what  he  must  know  and  what  he  must  value, 
what  he  must  love  and  what  he  must  hate,  what  he  must 
do  and  what  he  must  rigidly  shun,  if  he  would  be  fitted 
for  life  everlasting  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  The 
novice  must  learn  from  his  religious  superiors  how  he  is 
to  prepare  for  the  special  field  of  Christian  labor  in 
which  his  order  is  engaged.  So  important,  indeed,  is 
the  learning  process  that  the  infinite  Wisdom  of  God 
came  down  upon  earth  and  assumed  our  nature  in  order 
to  train  His  disciples  in  its  practice.  For  even  super- 
natural truth  cannot  exercise  its  rightful  sway  over 
man  until  it  be  incorporated  in  his  very  nature:  only 
then  and  thus  does  it  become  "faith  like  to  a  grain  of 
mustard-seed.'^  ^  From  every  viewpoint,  therefore,  are 
we  compelled  to  assent  to  the  statement  that  learning, 
whether  in  man  or  in  mere  animal,  is  "a  very  complex 
affair,    depending   upon   impression,   upon    associative 


^Luke  xvii,  6. 


The  Physiological  Basis  of  Learning, 

tendency,  upon  the  retentiveness  of  nerve-substance, 
and  upon  cortical  act";^  and  likewise,  in  man,  upon 
the  disposition  of  the  "heart,"  that  is,  upon  the  will 
and  the  affections. 

The  biological  factor  in  organic  plasticity  we  have 
already  considered  in  its  general  features.^  In  the 
learning  process  it  appears  more  particularly  both  in 
the  nerves  themselves  and  in  their  connections  with 
nerve-centers.  There  is,  then,  a  good  measure  of  truth 
in  the  statement  that  "education  consists  in  the  modifi- 
cations of  the  central  nervous  system"  (i.  ^.,  of  the 
brain  and  spinal  cord).^  The  neural  basis  of  learning, 
in  the  broad  sense  of  the  term,  is  found  both  in  the  char- 
acter of  the  nervous  tissue  itself  and  in  the  number  and 
strength  of  the  connections  effected  between  the  various 
nerve-centers.  It  appears  in  the  character  of  nervous 
tissue;  for  "the  most  elementary  and  essential  function 
of  nervous  tissue  is  to  provide  lines  of  conduction  be- 


^  Titchener,  Text-hook,  p.  384.  Cf.  note  3,  p.  48,  above;  and 
Rona.  X,  13-15. 

2  See  pp.  187  ff.,  above. 

"  H.  H.  Donaldson,  The  Growth  of  the  Brain,  p.  336.  He  adds: 
"In  its  size  and  development  the  central  system  is  precocious"  as 
compared  with  the  rest  of  the  human  body.  "Long  before  birth  all 
the  cells  destined  to  compose  it  are  already  formed,  though  by  no 
means  are  all  developed  in  the  sense  that  they  have  acquired  the 
form  and  connections  characteristic  for  those  at  maturity.  At 
the  close  of  embryonic  life  the  sensory  nerves  rapidly  extend,  and 
the  connection  of  the  central  cells  with  limiting  surfaces  of  the 
body  being  thus  established,  all  experiences  become  those  of  edu- 
cation. The  act  of  living  is  thus  the  most  important  natural  edu- 
cational [sic]  process  with  which  the  human  body  has  to  do." 


2^4  Psychological  Aspects  of  Faith, 

tween  receptors  and  effectors."  ^  It  is  likewise  manifest 
in  the  pathways  opened  not  only  between  different  areas 
of  the  cerebral  cortex,  not  only  between  "receptors" 
and  "effectors,"  but  also  between  the  various  cells  that 
go  to  make  up  each  and  every  nerve;  for  these  physio- 
logical connections  are  an  indispensable  condition  of 
the  psychical  associations  in  which  true  learning  con- 
sists, whether  such  learning  be  viewed  in  its  cognitive 
aspect  or  in  its  motor  influence. 

One  of  the  widely  accepted  explanations  of  the  physi- 
ological aspect  of  the  "learning  process"  is  known  as 
the  "neurone  theory."  Its  cardinal  principle  is  that 
the  "unit"  in  the  nervous  system  is  the  cell-body  to- 
gether with  its  opposite  "processes"  or  branches  (tech- 
nically known  as  axons  and  dendrites).^     No  two  cell- 


^  Ladd  and  Woodworth,  op.  cit.,  p.  35,  who  add  that  "conduction, 
co-ordination,  integration  and  'learning'  (this  word  in  a  figurative 
sense)  may  be  assigned  as  the  functions  of  the  nervous  system" 
(i.  e.,  of  the  whole  system).    See  also  above,  pp.  154  f. 

*  Cf.  Ladd  and  Woodworth,  op.  cit.,  pp.  108-114.  It  must  not  be 
forgotten  that  the  neurone  theory  is  an  attempt  to  explain  only 
the  physiological  correlate  of  the  learning  process;  it  does  not 
apply  directly  to  the  psychic  aspect.  We  must  be  on  our  guard, 
too,  against  accepting  the  telegraph  or  the  telephone  system  as  an 
explanation  of  even  the  nerve  current.  A.  Farges,  S.  S.  {Le 
Cerveau,  I'Ame  et  les  Facultes,  pp.  29-31)  notes  various  kinds  of 
difference  between  the  nerve  current  and  the  electric  current.  The 
former  is  living,  the  latter  has  no  life.  The  intensity  of  the  former 
increases  with  the  length  of  the  nerve  which  it  traverses;  whereas 
the  electric  grows  weaker  the  longer  the  wire  is.  We  must  there- 
fore relegate  to  the  region  of  fairy-tales  such  statements  as  these 
from  Reuben  Post  Halleck  {Psychology  and  Psychic  Culture,  pp. 
12,  13,  40,  41):  "A  sensory  nerve  conducts  a  message  at  the  aver- 
age rate  of  111  feet  a  second.  .  .  .  If  a  man  had  an  arm  suf- 
ficiently long  to  plunge  into  the  sun's  vaporous  metal,  140  years 
would  roll  by  before  he  felt  any  pain."    This  is  an  unwarranted 


The  Physiological  Basis  of  Learning,         S25 

bodies  are  continuous ;  but  the  axons  and  dendrites  of 
one  cell-body  touch,  but  never  fuse  with,  those  of  an- 
other. The  point  of  contact  is  technically  known  as  a 
"synapse,"  that  is  to  say,  a  fitting  together/  To 
establish  a  connection  between  adjoining  cell-bodies  it  is 
therefore  necessary  to  have  a  nerve  current  of  high 
tension  which  shall  overleap  the  interstices  between 
"axons"  and  "dendrites"  and  thereby  break  down  the 
resistance  offered  by  the  "synapse," — the  nerve-current 
always  following  the  lines  of  least  resistance.^  The  de- 
gree of  resistance  encountered  at  any  synapse  will  de- 
pend upon  several  factors  and  conditions.  If  the  nerv- 
ous impulse  is  seeking  an  outlet  for  the  first  time  and 
therefore  has  no  contrary  connection  to  break  down, 
the  problem  is  reduced  to  the  mere  overcoming  of  in- 
ertia.    If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  nervous  impulse  has 


inference  from  the  reaction  experiment,  on  which  see  Titchener, 
Text-hook,  pp.  432-437. 

^  "By  synapse  is  meant  the  point  of  junction  between  ingoing 
and  outgoing  nerve-fibers.  .  .  .  The  synapse  is  the  telephone 
central,  and  upon  its  action  depends  the  fate  of  the  impulse: 
whether  it  shall  be  allowed  to  pass  out  to  muscle  A  or  muscle  B. 
.  .  .  In  this  minute  mechanism,  then,  the  very  issues  of  con- 
scious life,  and  so  of  character,  are  determined."  E.  P.  Frost, 
"Habit  Formation  and  Reformation,"  Yale  Review,  Vol.  IV  (Oct., 
1914),  p.  137.  This  article  presents  forcibly  the  mechanical  side 
of  habit  formation,  but  in  the  latter  part  the  author  covertly  in- 
vokes and  applies  that  very  action  of  "will"  which  he  professes 
to  treat  as  a  purely  imaginary  factor  in  the  building  up  of  habit. 

^  While  the  nerve-fibres  conduct  the  nerve-impulse  in  both  direc- 
tions, yet  the  impulse  itself  is  conducted  "from  the  terminations 
of  the  sensory  axons  to  the  dendrites  of  the  motor-cells,  but  will 
not  pass  in  the  reverse  direction."  The  synapse,  therefore,  acts 
as  "a  sort  of  valve,"  allowing  the  impulse  "to  pass  in  only  one 
direction"   (Ladd  and  Woodworth,  op.  cit,  pp.  133,  111). 


226  Psycliological  Aspects  of  Faith. 

hitherto  been  discharged  through  another  channel,  the 
difficulty  of  forming  a  new  outlet  is  multiplied  in  pro- 
portion to  the  frequency  and  to  the  persistency  with 
which  it  has  discharged  through  the  older  pathway. 
The  problem  then  becomes  one  not  only  of  bridging 
over  the  gap  presented  by  the  synapse,  but  also  of  rais- 
ing an  effective  resistance  to  the  use  of  the  older  outlet. 
As  a  natural  consequence,  the  area  of  the  synapse  is, 
in  this  theory,  regarded  as  the  seat  of  fatigue  and  the 
center  wherein  are  exhibited  to  a  noted  degree  the  ef- 
fects of  the  toxic  poisons  carried  in  the  blood.^ 

Another  factor  to  consider  is  the  relative  complexity 
of  the  action  to  be  done.  If  the  action  be  of  a  simple 
automatic  or  reflex  type,  it  is  a  "predictable,  unchange- 
able^ mechanical  process" ;  ^  for,  in  this  case,  both 
structure  and  function  are  inherited.  If,  however,  it 
be  instinctive,  the  response  is  likely  to  be  less  fixed,  more 
plastic,  and,  to  some  extent,  subject  to  conscious  con- 
trol. These  conditions  are  realized  in  the  higher  ani- 
mals and  in  man;  for  through  consciousness  both  man 
and  brute  "sense  a  wider  horizon  and  are  capable  of 
adjusting  their  actions  more  perfectly  to  their  complex 


^The  nerves  themselves  seem  to  be  incapable  of  fatigue.  (Cf. 
Ladd  and  Woodworth,  op.  cit.,  pp.  136,  137.)  On  the  "fibrillar 
theory,"  see  pp.  113,  114.  "As  between  the  neurone  theory  and 
the  fibrillar  theory,  it  is  at  present  impossible  to  decide  with  cer- 
tainty; but  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  neurone  theory  still  com- 
mands the  support  of  the  majority  of  authorities;  and  that  it 
serves,  for  the  present,  the  useful  purpose  of  summing  up  a  large 
proportion  of  the  known  facts  that  have  a  bearing  on  the  connec- 
tions within  the  gray  matter  of  the  nervous  system"  (p.  114). 
Many  of  its  terms  (v.  g.,  channel)  are  metaphorical. 

*  E.  P.  Frost,  loc.  cit.    See  also  p.  188,  note  2,  above. 


The  Physiological  Basis  of  Learning.         2^7 

environment."  ^  Finally,  beyond  instinct,  which  it  may 
modify  and  by  which  in  turn  it  may  also  be  modified, 
lies  the  realm  of  reason  and  deliberation,  the  province 
within  which  the  chief  work  of  formal  education  is  pros- 
ecuted. Instinct,  it  is  true,  is  more  than  a  series  of 
reflexes,  for  it  is  ordinarily  attended  by  consciousness 
and  even  by  desire;  ^  but,  since  its  exercise  is  often  con- 
ditioned on  the  co-operation  of  the  higher  nerve  cen- 
ters, it  depends  on  relatively  complex  and  unstable 
nerve  connections.  Even  reason  itself,  as  man  is  now 
constituted,  is  powerless  to  operate  unless  various 
cortical  areas  are  in  some  way  united  to  contribute  the 
matter  or  content  of  thought  on  which  the  reasoning 
process  must  be  based.^ 


^  According  to  Professor  Conklin  (op.  cit.,  p.  78),  "all  living 
things  [bodies],  including  germ  cells  and  embryos,"  exhibit  (1)  a 
differential  sensitivity,  responding  differently  to  stimuli  that 
differ  in  kind  or  quantity;  (2)  reflex  motions,  t.  e,,  relatively 
simple,  automatic  responses;  (3)  organic  memory,  by  which  the 
results  of  previous  experiences  are  registered  in  the  general  pro- 
toplasm; (4)  adaptive  responses,  resulting  from  the  elimination 
of  useless  responses  through  trial  and  error;  and  (5)  varied  re- 
sponses depending  upon  conflicting  stimuli  and  conflicting  physio- 
logical states.  The  last  two  groups  or  processes  demand  the  in- 
tervention of  consciousness  as  well  as  of  organic  memory,  while 
the  last  of  all  includes  what  is  known  as  inhibition  (see  p.  229, 
below). 

^Cf.  Ladd  and  Woodworth,  op.  cit.,  p.  146;  Titchener,  Text- 
hook,  p.  462. 

'  Cf .  G.  E.  Partridge,  Genetic  Philosophy  of  Education  (p.  14): 
"The  ideal  of  the  new  psychology  based  upon  the  dictum.  No  psy- 
chosis without  neurosis,  has  been  to  discover  for  each  mental 
state  and  process  an  equivalent  or  correlate  in  the  body  or  in 
nature."  This  book  has  as  its  sub-title:  "An  Epitome  of  the  Pub- 
lished Educational  Writings  of  G.  Stanley  Hall,  President  of  Clark 
University." 


228  Psychological  Aspects  of  Faith. 

We  are,  therefore,  justified  in  assuming  that  a  cer- 
tain intensity  in  the  nerve  current  is  requisite  in  order 
to  form  a  new  channel  or  deepen  one  already  formed, 
and  likewise  to  supply  sufficient  energy  for  the  corre- 
lated physiological  processes.  The  greater  the  intens- 
ity of  the  "nerve  impulse,"  the  deeper  and  the  more  un- 
obstructed becomes  the  pathway  which  it  makes  for 
subsequent  nervous  discharges  and  the  more  thoroughly 
does  it  subserve  the  dependent  mental  processes.  When 
the  nerve  currents  are  so  great  and  so  impetuous  as 
to  overflow  their  accustomed  channels  and  seek  new 
outlets  for  their  discharge,  they  may  register  these 
changed  conditions  in  the  discomfort,  or  even  pain, 
which  the  organism  then  experiences.  It  is  in  the  light 
of  this  phase  of  the  neurone  theory  that  we  are  to 
interpret  such  conclusions  as  the  following:  "It  is  in 
the  action  of  the  synapse  only  that  the  chief  modifica- 
tions attributed  to  the  nervous  system,  and  so  attrib- 
uted to  consciousness,  find  expression.  .  .  .  Modify 
the  synapse,  and  consciousness  is  changed.  Vary  syn- 
aptic resistance,  and  one  modifies,  and  may  even  re- 
verse, behavior."  ^ 

Even  when  the  nervous  excitation  is  weak,  it  still 
registers  an  effect.  Thus  when  two  stimuli  of  the  same 
kind,  each  of  which  is  by  itself  just  too  weak  to  arouse 
any  noticeable  reflex  action,  are  applied  at  the  same 
time,  they  produce  the  customary  response.  The  same 
phenomenon  occurs  when  the  stimuli  follow  each  other 
in  quick  succession.     In  other  words,  these  stimuli  "fa- 


^  E.  P.  Frost,  loc.  cit.,  pp.  139,  140.    Cf.  footnote  1,  p.  225,  above. 


The  Physiological  Basis  of  Learning,         229 

cilitate"  or  "reinforce"  each  other.  On  the  other  hand, 
if  the  stimuli  taken  singly  lead  not  to  allied  but  to  op- 
posed, or  inconsistent,  reactions,  then  each  blocks  or 
inhibits  the  other,  and  there  is  no  responsive  action  at 
all  so  long  as  these  opposing  forces  remain  balanced. 
Eventually,  however,  one  force  breaks  through  the  op- 
position, and  then  ensues  a  reaction  made  up  of  har- 
monious reflexes  from  which  all  antagonistic  elements 
are  excluded.  Moreover,  the  inhibition  itself  is  at- 
tended with  a  "rebound  effect" ;  for  "a  reflex  which  had 
just  been  inhibited  is  for  some  time  afterward  much 
more  readily  excited" — it  is  "specially  sensitive  to  a 
new  stimulus."  ^ 

On  its  physiological  side,  therefore,  the  "learning 
process"  entails  the  forming  of  continuous  and  free 
pathways  for  the  discharge  of  nervous  impulses,  pref- 
erably of  high  tension,  and  consequently  the  blocking 
or  inhibition  of  divergent  or  opposite  channels.  How 
often  the  nerve-current  must  traverse  this  pathway  be- 
fore the  requisite  connections  are  thoroughly  secured, 
must  depend  primarily  on  the  relative  strength  of  the 
current  itself.  When  it  flows  easily  and  freely  through 
the  channel,  the  nervous  connection  has  been  "learned" 
and  the  physiological  basis  of  habit  is  established. 


^  Ladd  and  Waodworth,  op.  cit.,  p.  173.  For  a  discussion  of  the 
experiments  of  Exner  and  Sherrington  see  pp.  170-174.  Titchener 
{Text-hook,  p.  300)  applies  the  phenomena  of  "facilitation"  and 
"inhibition"  to  the  psychical  phases  of  attention.  See  also  Colvin 
and  Bagley,  op.  cit.,  Chap.  VII,  "The  Nervous  System  as  the 
Organ  of  Behavior." 


^30  Psychological  Aspects  of  Faith. 

Article  III, — Reflex  Action  as  a  Type,^ 

The  general  idea  underlying  this  article  may  be  in- 
troduced in  the  words  of  Professor  James : 

"The  doctrine  of  reflex  action,  especially  as  extended  to  the 
brain,  .  ,  .  means  that  the  acts  we  perform  are  always  the  re- 
sult of  outward  discharges  from  the  nervous  centers,  and  that 
these  outward  discharges  are  themselves  the  result  of  impressions 
from  the  external  world,  carried  in  along  one  or  another  of  our 
sensory  nerves.  Applied  at  first  to  only  a  portion  of  our  acts, 
this  conception  has  ended  by  being  generalized  more  and  more,  so 
that  now  most  physiologists  tell  us  that  every  action  whatever,  even 
the  most  deliberately  weighed  and  calculated,  does,  so  far  as  its 
organic  conditions  go,  follow  the  reflex  type.  There  is  not  one 
which  cannot  be  remotely,  if  not  immediately,  traced  to  an  origin 
in  some  incoming  impression  of  sense.  There  is  no  impression  of 
sense  which,  unless  inhibited  by  some  other  stronger  one,  does  not 
immediately  or  remotely  express  itself  in  action  of  some  kind. 
There  is  no  one  of  those  complicated  performances  in  the  convolu- 
tions of  the  brain  to  which  our  trains  of  thought  correspond, 
which  is  not  a  mere  middle  term  interposed  between  an  incoming 
sensation  that  arouses  it  and  an  outgoing  discharge  of  some  sort, 
inhibitory  if  not  exciting,  to  which  itself  gives  rise.  The  structural 
unit  of  the  nervous  system^  is  in  fact  a  triad,  neither  of  whose 
elements  has  any  independent  existence.  The  sensory  impression 
exists  only  [?]  for  the  sake  of  awaking  the  central  process  of  re- 
flection, and  the  central  process  of  reflection  exists  only  [?]  for 
the  sake  of  calling  forth  the  final  act.  All  action  is  thus  r«-action ' 
upon  the  outer  world;  and  the  middle  stage  of  consideration 
or  contemplation  or  thinking  is  only  [?]  a  place  of  transit,  the 
bottom  of  a  loop,  both  of  whose  ends  have  their  point  of  appli- 

^Cf.  Ladd  and  Woodworth,  op.  cit..  Chap.  VII,  "Reflex  Func- 
tions of  the  Nervous  System";  also  C.  S.  Sherrington,  The  Integra- 
tive Action  of  the  Nervous  System. 

^  On  the  other  hand,  the  structural  unit  of  the  nerve  itself,  ac- 
cording to  the  "neurone  theory"  is  the  "neurone;"  that  is,  the 
cell-body  with  its  outgrowing  processes,  viz.,  axons  and  dendrites. 
See  pp.  224  ff. 

« Cf .  Titchener,  Text-hook,  p.  447. 


Reflex  Action  as  a  Type,  231 

cation  in  the  outer  world.  .  .  .  The  willing  department  of 
our  nature,  in  short,  dominates  [sic]  both  the  conceiving  depart- 
ment and  the  feeling  department;  or,  in  plainer  English,  percep- 
tion and  thinking  are  only  [?]  there  for  behavior's,  sake."* 

These  viev/s  have  obtained  very  wide  currency.  In 
the  domain  of  human  and  animal  physiology,  especially 
the  physiology  of  the  nervous  system,  they  are  believed 
to  throw  light  upon  the  nature  not  only  of  automatic 
activities,  which  have  their  stimulus  and  origin  within 
the  organism,^  but  also  of  instinctive  actions,  which 
are  always  complex  and  purposive  in  character.  They 
have  entered  the  field  of  education,  through  the  writ- 
ings of  Professor  Dewey  ^  and  his  disciples,^  where 
their  application  has  been  extended  to  the  mind,  at 
times  in  defiance  of  sound  philosophical  principles  and 
in  opposition  to  fundamental  Christian  tenets.^  These 
views  and  tendencies  have  developed  into  a  kind  of  phi- 
losophical system,  viz.,  pragmatism,  which  has  an  ex- 


*  "Reflex  Action  and  Theism,"  an  address  delivered  in  1881,  re- 
printed in  The  Will  to  Believe,  pp.  113,  114.  In  the  last  sentence 
which  we  have  quoted  above.  Professor  James  gives  unequivocal 
expression  to  a  doctrine  which  was  subsequently  to  characterize 
the  system  known  as  Pragmatism.  This  is  equally  evident  in  the 
three  sentences  which  precede  the  last  and  which  we  have 
omitted.  On  p.  124  he  refers  in  a  footnote  to  C.  S.  Pierce's  paper, 
"How  to  Make  Our  Thoughts  Clear,"  in  the  Popular  Science 
Monthly,  Jan.,  1878,  which  is  generally  held  to  be  the  first  definite 
presentation  of  pragmatic  principles. 

'  See  footnote  2,  p.  188. 

^  Cf.  "The  Reflex  Arc  Concept  in  Psychology,"  Psychological 
Review,  Vol.  Ill  (July,  1896),  pp.  357  ff. 

*Cf.  Irving  E.  Miller,  Psychology  of  Thinking,  pp,  48-52,  55-58; 
J.  Dewey,  Studies  in  Logical  Theory,  passim. 

"  Cf.  J.  T.  DriscoU,  op.  cit.,  pp.  29-39, 


232  Psychological  Aspects  of  Faith, 

tensive  following  in  England,  France  and  America. 
That  the  movement  has  a  theological  bearing  is  mani- 
fest from  the  very  title  of  the  essay  from  which  we  have 
quoted.  In  the  very  same  address,^  Professor  James 
makes  this  statement: 

"Theism,  whatever  its  objective  warrant,  would  thus  be  seen  to 
have  a  subjective  anchorage  in  its  congruity  with  our  nature  as 
thinkers;  and,  however  it  may  fare  with  its  truth,  to  derive  from 
this  subjective  adequacy  the  strongest  possible  [?]  guaranty  of 
its  permanence." 

In  all  these  relations  man  is  regarded  primarily  as 
an  individual.  But  he  is  at  the  same  time  a  social  be- 
ing. It  is  not  surprising,  then,  that  the  "reflex  arc 
concept"  should  have  invaded  the  domain  of  sociology 
from  the  adjoining  realm  of  psychology.  Here,  too, 
the  third  stage,  viz.,  that  of  production  or  successful 
external  action,  has  been  at  times  unduly  emphasized. 
In  testimony  thereof  let  us  cite  one  passage: 

"Hitherto  psychologists  have  been  more  concerned  with  analyz- 
ing the  structure  of  human  consciousness  than  with  developing  a 
psychology  of  human  action.  The  latest  developments  in  psychol- 
ogy are,  however,  developments  toward  such  a  psychology  of 
human  activities  or  behavior;  and  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  when 
such  a  psychology  has  been  fully  developed,  it  will  supply  the 
missing  key  [sic]  for  the  interpretation  of  social  phenomena."'' 

If  there  be  any  truth  in  these  views,  and  undoubtedly 


^P.  116. 

^  C.  A.  Ellwood,  Sociology  in  its  Psychological  Aspects  (2d  ed.), 
p.  95.  In  a  footnote  the  author  quotes  from  Professor  Max  Meyer, 
also  of  the  University  of  Missouri:  "Mind  is  a  subject  fit  to  be 
studied  only  [?]  because  it  is,  and  to  the  extent  [?]  to  which  it 
13,  significant  for  social  intercourse." 


Reflex  Action  as  a  Type,  2S3 

there  is  some  truth  in  every  system  or  school  of  thought 
that  has  disciples,^  it  is  incumbent  on  us  to  look  more 
closely  into  the  "reflex  arc  concept"  and  to  study  its 
real  implications  and  to  trace  the  consequences  that 
follow  when  it  is  assumed  to  be  the  typical  learning 
process  in  its  simplest  form.^  We  may  take  for  our 
text  the  following  passage  from  Professor  James'  ad- 
dress :  "Any  mind  constructed  on  the  triadic  reflex  pat- 
tern, must  first  get  its  impression  from  the  object  which 
it  confronts;  then  define  what  that  object  is,  and  de- 
cide what  active  measures  its  presence  demands;  and 
finally  react."  ^ 

I.  The  first  element  in  the  triad,  then,  is  getting 
an  impression  from  the  object.  This  opens  up  the 
problem  of  knowledge.  Can  we  really  know  any  thing.? 
Can  we  know  the  relations  between  things  ?  Has  man  an 
environment?  Can  he  be  influenced  by  this  environ- 
ment.'^ Are  there  other  men  with  whom  he  can  hold 
intercourse.?  Can  he  commune  with  his  God.?  Each 
and  every  science,  by  the  very  fact  of  its  existence  bears 


^  An  excellent  illustration  of  this  fact,  highly  suggestive  at  the 
same  time  of  the  catholicity  of  the  Church's  doctrines  in  the  realm 
of  philosophic  thought,  is  found  in  an  article  by  A.  de  G.,  The 
Correlation  of  Agnosticism  and  Positiznsm  in  the  American  Cath- 
olic Quarterly  Review,  Vol.  X  (1885),  pp.  65  flP. 

^  There  is,  of  course,  another  aspect  of  reflex  action,  since  it 
"may  take  place  without  consciousness  in  brain  intervention.  .  .  . 
Reflex  action  is  the  deputy  of  the  brain,  and  directs  myriad  move- 
ments, thus  leaving  the  higher  powers  free  to  attend  to  weightier 
things."  R.  P.  Halleck,  Education  of  the  Central  Nervous  Sys- 
tem,, pp.  6,  7.    See  also  Chap.  II,  "Fatalistic  Aspects." 

'Pp.  122,  123. 


234  Psychological  Aspects  of  Faith, 

witness  to  the  truth  that  at  least  some  things  and  some 
relations  between  things  are  not  only  knowable  but 
known/  In  psychology,  in  particular,  this  principle 
is  a  postulate  that  underlies  every  discussion  of  both 
perception  and  apperception;  for  apperception  is  but 
a  development  of  perception,  and  stands  or  falls  with 
the  latter.^  In  pedagogy,  the  ''learning  process"  is  only 
an  empty  phrase  if  there  be  nothing  real  to  learn. 
Finally,  to  all  these  questions  both  Christian  philosophy 
and  Christian  faith  give  an  unequivocal  answer  in  the 
affirmative. 


^The  possibility  of  certitude,  the  representative  value  of  knowl- 
edge, and  the  criteria  of  valid  knowledge,  are  all  topics  of  epistem- 
ology.  For  a  brief  exposition  of  the  principles  of  epistemology,  see 
Dr.  Dubray,  Catholic  Encyclopedia  (s.  v.),  and  Introductory  Phi- 
losophy, pp.  362-421.  For  a  more  extended  discussion,  see  John 
Rickaby,  S.  J.,  First  Principles  of  Knowledge.  For  the  historical 
aspect,  see  Rev.  W.  Turner's  History  of  Philosophy  (Index).  For 
a  more  detailed  treatment  of  the  topics  in  the  scholastic  period, 
see  M.  de  Wulf  (tr.  P.  Coffey),  History  of  Medieval  Philosophy 
(Index).  For  a  critical  presentation  of  St.  Thomas'  teaching 
concerning  the  acquisition  of  knowledge,  see  Brother  Barbas, 
"St.  Thomas'  Latest  Critic,"  American  Catholic  Quarterly  Re- 
view,  Vol.  X  (1885),  pp.  36-51,  especially  pp.  46-51.  In  psy- 
chology, the  question  is  treated  under  the  rubric  of  "perception." 
(Cf.  Maher,  Psychology,  Chap.  VI,  "Perception  of  the  Material 
World.  Critical  Sketch  of  the  Leading  Theories  of  External  Per- 
ception.") 

^  Much  of  the  interpretation  to  be  found  in  recent  psychological 
literature  is  based  on  the  assumption  that  the  principle  of  psycho- 
physical parallelism  is,  if  not  a  demonstrated  fact,  at  least  a  good 
working  hypothesis.  This  is  particularly  noticeable  in  the  follow- 
ers of  Professor  Wilhelm  Wundt.  Titchener,  as  already  noted 
(p.  2O85  note  2),  confuses  this  theory  with  the  "double  aspect 
theory,"  which  has  a  distinctly  English  origin  (Cf.  Maher,  op.  cit., 
Chap.  XXII).  For  historical  and  critical  discussion  of  these 
two  theories,  see  Dr.  Dubray's  excellent  monograph,  The  Theory 
of  Psychical  Dispositions,  pp.  144-148. 


Reflex  Action  as  a  Type,  236 

As  we  have  already  seen,  the  nerve  center  has 
"learned  its  lesson"  when  a  free  pathway  has  been 
opened  for  the  transmission  of  the  nerve  impulse  from 
sense  to  muscle.^  This  is  the  reflex  arc  in  its  primitive 
simplicity.  Its  investigation  belongs  to  physiology. 
But,  according  to  the  teaching  of  scholastic  philosophy, 
man,  though  constituted  of  body  and  soul,  of  "matter" 
and  "mind,"  is  nevertheless  a  unitary  being:  the  human 
soul  is  the  "substantial  form,"  the  "determining  prin- 
ciple" of  the  body.^  This  is  the  conclusion  drawn  from 
a  careful  analysis  of  man^s  activities  in  general,  and 
of  the  process  of  perception  in  particular.  If  then  the 
reflex  arc  is  really  typical,  it  must  help  us  to  a  better 
understanding  of  the  act  of  cognition  proper  to  man 
as  man,  viz.,  perception. 

Aristotle  was  the  first  philosopher  to  teach  that  per- 
ception through  the  senses  is  a  kind  of  motion/  St. 
Thomas  reiterated  the  doctrine,  but  with  the  warning 


'  See  above,  p.  229. 

*St.  Thomas,  Surmna  Theologica,  T,  q.  76;  Thomas  Harper, 
Metaphysics  of  the  School,  Vol.  II,  Bk.  V,  Chaps.  II,  III;  J.  L. 
Perrier,  Revival  of  Scholastic  Philosophy  in  the  Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury, pp.  96-100.  That  the  human  soul  is  the  unique  and  substan- 
tial form  of  the  body,  is  of  faith.  It  was  so  defined  at  the  gen- 
eral council  of  Vienne,  1311;  the  Fifth  Council  of  Lateran, 
1512-17;  and  in  a  brief  of  Pius  IX,  June  15,  1857.  In  direct  op- 
position to  this  is  the  theory  of  psychophysical  parallelism,  that 
mental  processes  and  neural,  especially  cerebral,  processes  run 
parallel  courses,  but  never  interact. 

The  principal  topics  of  this  article  have  already  been  consid- 
ered in  the  general  survey  given  in  the  preceding  chapter.  They 
are  now  taken  up  with  special  reference  to  the  reflex  arc  concept. 

"De  Physica,  III,  1;  De  Anvma,  III,  2. 


236  Psychological  Aspects  of  Faith, 

that  such  perception  is  something  more  than  mere  mo- 
tion/ Now,  in  every  motion  we  may  distinguish  three 
stages :  the  first,  before  the  impact  of  the  moving  body 
with  the  body  to  be  moved;  the  second,  during  the  im- 
pact, when  the  moving  body  is  imparting  its  own  mo- 
tion to  the  mobile  subject;  the  third,  after  the  impact, 
when  the  second  body  has  received  the  motion.  This 
theory  is  manifestly  an  application  of  the  principle  of 
causality.  The  motion  imparted  is  an  effect.  It  must 
therefore  be  as  like  the  motion  of  the  first  moving  body 
as  its  own  nature  and  its  condition  at  the  time  of  im- 
pact will  allow ;  for  another  principle  also  applies  here, 
viz.,  "Whatever  is  received  is  received  according  to  the 
nature  of  the  recipient."  ^  It  is  this  theory  of  motion 
and  this  application  of  the  principle  of  causality  that 
will  enable  us  to  grasp  the  twofold  truth  that  every  act 
of  sense-perception  is  a  direct  cognition  of  reality,  and 
that  the  acts  of  perception  performed  by  one  and  the 
same  sense  may  yet  differ  among  themselves  owing  to 
the  diverse  conditions  of  the  sense  itself  at  the  moment 
of  functioning.  However  incomplete  such  knowledge 
may  be,  it  brings  us  into  direct  contact  with  a  reality 
other  than  ourselves.  It  is  the  indispensable  condition 
of  intercourse  with  our  fellow-man  as  well  as  of  the 
pursuit  of  natural  science. 

Like  all  other  motions,  this  motion  which  lies  at  the 
basis  of  sense-perception  may  be  read  in  two  ways :  viz., 
toward  the  starting-point,  the  terminus  a  quo^ — in  this 


^  In  Ilium  de  Anvma,  Lect.  2. 

*A.  Farges,  Acte  et  Pmssance,  pp.  121  ff. 


Reflex  Action  as  a  Type,  237 

case,  the  first  moving  body;  and  toward  the  point  of 
arrival,  the  terminus  ad  quern,  the  body  which  receives 
the  motion.  Considered  in  the  first  way,  L  e,,  in  its 
objective  reference  to  the  "thing  known,"  the  act  of 
cognition  is  called  "perception" ;  ^  viewed,  on  the  other 
hand,  in  its  subjective  reference  as  a  modification  of 
the  "knower,"  the  very  same  act  is  called  "sensation."  ^ 
The  first  act  of  perception  performed  by  the  human 
individual  in  his  life  must  include  a  minimal  reference 
to  external  reality,  owing  to  the  inchoate  condition  of 
the  organism  and  the  dependence  of  the  mind  on  bodily 
conditions.  It  is  the  subjective  factor'  that  dominates, 
and  it  dominates  rather  as  "feeling"  than  as  "cogni- 
tion." ^  But  each  subsequent  perception,  since  it  calls 
for  like  nerve  reactions,  tends  to  bring  about  a  corre- 
sponding permanent  modification  of  the  nervous  sys- 
tem.*    This  is  the  physiological  basis  for  the  phenome- 


^  On  the  development  of  sense  perception,  see  Maher,  Psy- 
chology, Chap.  VII. 

*  Motion,  the  generic  term,  and  movement,  i.  e.,  regulated  mo- 
tion, are  the  common  elements  to  be  found  in  the  two  Aristotelian 
categories  of  "action,"  i,  e.,  motion  from  an  agent,  and  "passion," 
i.  e.,  motion  as  received  into  a  subject.  See  n.  3,  p.  216  above.  Cf. 
Harper,  Metaphysics  of  the  School,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  275-280,  310-313. 

^  "We  may  assume  as  practically  beyond  controversy  that  the 
simplest  and  the  earliest  manifestations  of  consciousness,  whether 
considered  philogenetically  or  ontogenetically,  are  at  least  pre- 
dominantly affective  states,  which  are  probably  best  described  as 
pleasure-pain  feelings."  T.  E.  Shields,  Psychology  of  Education, 
pp.  197,  198.  So  also  J.  M.  Baldwin,  Handbook  of  Psychology, 
Vol.  II,  "Feeling  and  Will,"  pp.  149,  150,  and  William  James, 
Principles  of  Psychology,  Vol.  II,  pp.  7,  8. 

*  Cf .  Titchener,  Text-book,  pp.  396  f . 


238  Psychological  Aspects  of  Faith. 

non  of  apperception.^  It  is  a  mistake,  however,  to 
regard  perceptions  in  the  adult  man,  or  even  in  the 
little  child,  as  mere  "groupings  of  sensations  under  the 
laws  of  attention."  ^  The  human  soul  has  from  the 
first  moment  of  its  existence  the  power  of  perceiving 
something  of  the  nature  or  "meaning"  of  the  material 
object  which  impresses  sense.  This  power,  however, 
cannot  operate,  much  less  give  external  evidence  of  its 
activity,  until  the  requisite  conditions  are  given.  It  is 
usually  through  articulate  speech  that  such  evidence  is 
given,  and  the  exercise  of  speech  demands  a  high  de- 
gree of  development  in  the  human  organism.^  Early 
in  the  life  of  the  child  the  so-called  act  of  perception 
becomes  a  synthesis  not  merely  of  present  sensations 
from  the  same  external  object,  but  even  of  present  with 
past  sensations  through  imagination  and  memory. 
Moreover,  wherever  the  perception  has  "meaning,"  it 
includes  a  true  intellectual  act,  that  of  conception,  by 


^  For  experimental  proof  that  after  the  earliest  years  each  act  of 
perception  is  influenced  by  previous  experience,  see  L.  Witmer, 
Analytical  Psychology,  pp.  3,  8,  11,  12;  also  M.  W.  Calkins,  A 
First  Book  in  Psychology,  Chap.  IV  and  pp.  336-343.  Titchener, 
quite  without  warrant  from  his  principles,  since  he  is  a  partisan 
of  the  "double-aspect  theory"  (pp.  39,  40),  uses  these  modifica- 
tions of  the  nervous  system  to  explain  attention,  especially  sec- 
ondary (voluntary)  attention.  {Text-hook,  pp.  39,  272,  274;  cf. 
Beginner's  Psychology,  pp.  95,  115.) 

^Titchener,  Text-hook,  p.  364.  On  p.  367  he  says:  "Perceptions 
are  selected  groups  of  sensations,  in  which  images  are  incorpo- 
rated as  an  integral  part  of  the  whole  process."  He  admits  (p. 
129)  that  it  may  be  better  to  regard  both  sensation  and  image  as 
"sub-classes  of  a  particular  type  of  mental  element." 

^  Cf.  J.  M.  Baldwin,  Mental  Development  in  the  Child  and  the 
Racet  pp.  69-74. 


Reflex  Action  as  a  Type,  239 

means  of  which  the  mind  apprehends  more  or  less  per- 
fectly the  nature  of  the  object.  The  beginnings  of  this 
process  are  already  effected  when  the  child  asks  What? 
and  Why?  ^  It  is  the  business  of  education  to  direct 
and  to  develop  this  native  curiosity  and  to  train  the 
young  to  sustain  the  highest  flights  of  science,  phi- 
losophy, or  religious  faith.  No  matter  how  lofty  be  the 
idea,  how  sublime  the  inspiration,  the  matter  of  even 
man's  most  attenuated  abstractions  of  thought  comes 
to  him  from  without,  from  his  environment.  Further- 
more, if  he  could  not  attain  to  direct  knowledge  of  a 
reality  external  to  himself,  it  would  be  utterly  impos- 
sible for  him  to  have  Christian  faith.  For  this  we  have 
the  warrant  of  St.  Paul: 

"For  whosoever  shall  call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord,  shall  be 
saved.  How,  then,  shall  they  call  on  Him  in  whom  they  have  not 
believed?  Or  how  shall  they  believe  Him  of  whom  they  have  not 
heard?     .     .     .     Faith  then  cometh  by  hearing."  ^ 

The  first  element,  therefore,  in  the  reflex  arc  con- 
cept, may  be  regarded  as  typical  in  its  most  general 
character,  of  all  man's  responses  to  stimuli,^  even  of 


*  "Individual  existence;  comprises  a  nature  that  is  of  itself  uni- 
versal, and  only  the  intellect  can  show  this;  yet  it  also  comprises 
the  circumstances  that  individualize  that  nature,  and  these  can 
be  perceived  by  sense.  The  union  of  these  two  (formal)  objects, 
different  in  nature  but  joined  like  a  thing  and  its  mode,  is  per- 
ceived [note  this]  by  the  concurrence  of  two  faculties,  by  a  kind 
of  composite  of  sense  and  intellect,  i.  e,,  by  the  particular  reason 
(ratio  particularis)."  St.  Thomas,  T>e  Principio  Individuationis, 
2.    Cf.  Domet  de  Vorges,  La  psychologie  et  la  perception  thomiste. 

2  Rom.  X,  13-17. 

"  From  this  we  are  not  to  conclude  that  the  formation  of  a  con- 
cept is  a  "development"  of  sense  perception.  Its  efficient  cause 
is  a  distinctly  spiritual  principle,  viz.,  the  human  soul,  not  the  com- 
posite of  body  and  soul.     The  unit  is  the  man.     His  operations 


240  Psychological  Aspects  of  Faith, 

such  as  take  the  form  of  sense-perception  or  intellectual 
conception. 

II.  We  must  now  consider  the  second  element  in  the 
reflex  arc  concept.  In  its  biological  aspect  it  corre- 
sponds to  the  essential  function  of  organic  life,  viz.,  to 
the  changing  of  food  into  the  very  substance  of  the 
organism  by  which  that  food  is  appropriated.  This  is 
known  as  the  process  of  assimilation  or  metabolism  or 
integration.  It  is  true  that,  according  to  the  scholastic 
doctrine  of  cognition,  assimilation  is  also  a  vital  stage 
in  every  process  of  cognition.  For,  to  a  certain  extent, 
the  object  known  assimilates  to  itself  the  knowing  sub- 
ject in  the  very  act  of  knowing,  so  that  the  knower 
becomes  for  the  time  being  like  to  the  known ;  ^  inas- 
much as  every  effect  must  be  like  to  its  cause  at  the 
time  to  which  it  is  subject  to  that  cause  and  to  the 
degree  and  after  the  measure  in  which  it  is  so  subject. 
But  the  mental  integration  that  constitutes  the  second 
element  of  the  ^'triadic"  concept,  is  more  comprehensive 
than  this.     It  begins  with  apperception  ^  and  continues 


are  manifold  and  spring  proximately  from  specifically  different 
principles.  It  is  incorrect  to  hold  with  J.  M.  Baldwin  that 
percept  and  concept  are  "simply  different  aspects  of  one  things — 
a  synthesis  of  elements."     {Mental  Development,  p.  329.) 

^  On  the  other  hand,  the  subject,  by  foUowing^  its  appetencies, 
becomes  like  thei  object  to  which  it  tends;  man,  for  instance,  be- 
comes like  the  object  of  his  love.  As  by  his  intellect  he  becomes, 
for  the  time  being  assimilated  to  the  object  of  his  thought,  so  by 
his  will  he  is  assimilated  to  the  object  beloved.  For  spiritual  ap- 
plications of  this  principle,  see  Imitation,  Bk.  Ill,  Chaps.  V,  VI. 

^  Professor  Baldwin  (Story  of  the  Mind,  pp.  12,  13)  uses  the 
term  in  a  very  comprehensive  sense:  "The  mind,  we  say,  *apper- 
ceives'  the  orange  when  it  is  able  to  treat  all  the  separate  sensa- 
tioiis  together  as  standing  for  one  thing.     An4  the  various  cir- 


Reflex  Action  as  a  Type.  241 

under  the  laws  of  association/  The  process  of  associa- 
tion ^  itself  is  affected  by  many  conditions.  Among 
the  first  of  these  is  our  inherited  organism  with  its 
native  reflexes  and  instincts  and  its  acquired  habits  of 
enforcement  and  inhibition,  together  with  all  the  influ- 


cumstances'  under  which  the  mind  does  this  give  the  occasion  for 
the  different  names  which  the  earlier  psychology  used  for  marking 
off  different  'faculties.'  [The  last  sentence  evades  the  real  issue. 
'Occasions'  are  external  to  the  individual.  Both  the  'faculties'  of 
Professor  Baldwin  and  the  'tendencies'  of  Professor  Titchener 
are  internal.  As  well  might  one  say,  Environment  is  everything; 
plasticity  and  adjustment  on  the  part  of  the  individual  having  the 
environment,  are  superfluous].  .  .  .  Apperception,  then,  is  the 
one  [sic]  principle  of  mental  activity  on  the  side  of  its  reception 
[the  first  element  in  the  reflex  arc  concept]  and  treatment  of  the 
materials  of  experience"  [the  second  element  in  the  reflex  arc 
concept]. 

^Professor  Baldwin  (op.  cit,  pp.  15,  16)  writes:  "General  psy- 
chology has  reached  three  great  principles  in  its  investigation  of 
knowledge.  First,  we  have  the  combining  tendency  of  the  mind, 
the  grouping  together  and  relating  of  mental  states  and  of  things, 
called  Apperception.  Then,  second,  there  are  the  particular  rela- 
tions established  among  the  various  states,  etc.,  which  are  com- 
bined; these  are  called  Associations  of  Ideas.  And,  third,  there 
is  the  tendency  of  the  mind  to  use  its  old  experiences  and  habits 
as  general  patterns  or  nets  for  the  sorting  out  and  distributing  of 
all  the  new  details  of  daily  life;  this  is  called  Assimilation" 

^The  laws  of  association  which  we  owe  to  Aristotle  are  re- 
jected by  Professor  Titchener  as  being  inconsistent  with  scien- 
tifi.c  psychology.  For  associations  he  substitutes  "associative  ten- 
dencies." "When  a  number  of  psychoneural  processes  [i.  e., 
'brain  processes  that  are  correlated  with  mental  processes'],  all 
of  which  are  reinforced  [by  attention]  and  all  of  which  stand  alike 
under  the  directive  influence  of  a  nervous  disposition,  occur  to- 
gether under  certain  favorable  conditions,  then  associative  tend- 
encies are  established  among  them,  such  that  the  recurrence  of 
any  one  tends  to  involve,  according  to  circumstances,  the  recur- 
rence of  the  others."  {Beginner's  Psychology,  pp.  148,  164,  165.) 
He  then  draws  up  an  analogous  formula  for  the  recurrence  of 
perceptions  and  ideas  (pp.  166,  168),  and  sums  up  both  in  the 
statement;  "The  brain  agsociates  and  meanings  are  associated." 


24i2  Psychological  Aspects  of  Faith, 

ences  that  unite  to  form  our  individual  training  and 
education.  Besides  our  habitual  interests  there  are  the 
temporary  variations  due  to  passing  interests  and 
phases  of  attention,  both  of  which  may  be  changed  not 
only  by  direct  exercise  of  will-power,  but  even  by  the 
rate  of  blood-flow.  "Association"  is  distinguished  from 
that  fusion  of  sensations  which  occurs  in  perception ;  ^ 
for  the  elements  that  "fuse"  in  perception  are  "periph- 
erally excited"  by  stimulation  of  the  external  senses, 
whereas  in  "association"  one  or  both  of  the  terms  that 
fuse  is  "centrally  excited";  that  is,  is  supplied  by  the 
imagination.  While  associations  are  often  classed  as 
simultaneous  and  successive,  yet  an  attempt  has  been 
made  to  reduce  the  former  to  the  latter,  on  the  ground 
that  "a  simultaneous  association  consists  essentially  in 
the  persistence  of  the  first  term  of  a  successive  asso- 
ciation." ^ 

Be  the  explanation  what  it  may,  the  association  of 
"ideas"  is  something  more  than  a  mere  condition  of 
mental  organization  or  integration;  for  association  is 
a  fact.^     We  have  seen  that  very  early  in  his  life  the 


^  See  note  3,  p.  239. 

*M.  W.  Calkins,  A  First  Book  in  Psychology,  p.  359.  Cf.  pp. 
63  ff.,  116-126. 

'  We  do  not  object  to  Professor  Titchener's  "associative  tend- 
encies." Much  might  be  said  in  their  favor.  We  do  insist 
that  they  cannot  be  reconciled  with  either  psychophysical  paral- 
lelism or  the  "double-aspect  theory."  Again  we  see  no  sufficient 
warrant  for  his  antipathy  to  consciousness  {Beginner's  Psy- 
chology, pp.  324  ff.),  nor  for  his  definition  of  will  (p.  255)  as  "the 
general  name  for  the  sum  total  of  tendencies,  inherited  and  ac- 
quired, that  determine  our  actions."  These  tendencies  are  not 
"will"    properly    so    called;    they    are    appetencieSj    as    we    have 


Reflex  Action  as  a  Type,  S,4i3 

human  individual  not  only  associates  sense-perceptions 
of  one  and  the  same  object,  by  which  he  is  made  aware 
of  its  various  sensile,  concrete  and  individual  qualities ; 
but  also  associates  such  perceptions  with  some  appre- 
hension of  the  nature  or  "meaning"  of  the  object  hav- 
ing these  qualities.  In  other  words,  the  term  "percep- 
tion" comes  to  signify  a  complex  process  by  which  the 
object  is  known  not  only  as  individual,  but  also  at  least 
implicitly  as  member  of  a  class.  It  is  this  class  con- 
cept that  is  essential  for  purposes  of  definition ;  for  the 
definition  of  a  thing  states,  as  far  as  possible,  its  proxi- 
mate genus  and  specific  difference.^  From  the  very 
nature  of  the  case,  definition  is  ordinarily  the  crowning 
result  of  prolonged  and  careful  analysis.  Hence  it  is 
not  a  matter  for  surprise  that  Catholic  philosophers, 
following  the  lead  of  that  Church  of  which  they  are 
loyal  members,  should  look  upon  "definition,"  and  the 
intellectual  concept  of  which  it  is  the  expression,  as 
crucial  tests  in  every  system  of  philosophy.  It  is  pre- 
cisely here,  too,  that  the  weakness  of  not  a  little  of 
modern  philosophy  and  of  the  "new"  psychology  be- 
comes apparent.^     It  is  through  the  concept,  the  in- 


learned  from  Aristotle  and  his  lawful  successors.  Characteristics 
of  "will"  appear  repeatedly  in  Titchener's  treatment  of  attention 
(pp.  94-97).  He  seems  to  be  actuated  by  a  "bias,"  unwitting 
perhaps,  to  reduce  every  mental  process  to  sensation  or  a  deriva- 
tive thereof. 

*  Professor  James'  pragmatism  does  not  allow  him  to  define 
any  thing.  To  be  consistent,  he  must  limit  himself  to  the  "hit-and- 
miss"  (the  "trial-and-error")  method.  Cf.  J.  T.  DriscoU,  Praff- 
matism,  pp.  18-39. 

*This  Father  DriscoU  (op.  cit.,  passim)  repeatedly  points  out 
with  reference  to  pragmatism.     See  also  Richard  Clarke,  S.  J., 


S44  Psychological  Aspects  of  Faith, 

tellectual  idea,  taken  in  its  strict  scholastic  meanings 
that  we  attain  to  certain  knowledge  of  reality.  It  is  an 
intellectual  conformity  to  the  nature  of  the  object  b}^ 
which  it  has  been  impressed  or  stimulated,  and  which, 
in  virtue  of  such  conformity,  it  now  knows.  It  there- 
fore possesses  what  St.  Thomas  holds  to  be  the  char- 
acteristic element  in  truth,  viz.,  the  squaring  of  thought 
or  intellect  with  object  (adcequatio  rei  et  intellectus).^ 
Whereas,  then,  the  presentation  of  the  matter  of 
thought  through  the  senses  belongs  to  the  first  stage 
of  the  "reflex  arc,"  the  conforming  of  the  intellect  to 
the  object  exemplifies  the  second  stage.  It  is  the  indis- 
pensable condition  of  "definition,"  whether  the  term  be 
taken  in  its  logical  or  in  its  optical  signification. 

IIL  But  the  value  of  the  intellectual  idea  does  not 
end  even  here.  It  extends  to  the  third  phase  of  the 
"reflex  arc  concept."  It  is  the  response  of  the  intellect 
to  the  stimulus  of  the  object.  Wherefore  the  School- 
men named  it  the  verhum  mentis,  the  interior  spiritual 
"word"  whereby  the  intellect  expresses  to  itself  its 
knowledge  of  the  nature,  the  "quiddity,"   the   "what- 


"The  Central  Error  of  Modern  Philosophy,"  American  Catholic 
Quarterly  Review,  Vol.  XIII  (1888),  pp.  52-71,  reprinted  in  his 
Logic,  pp.  97-139.  A  like  confusion  as  to  the  real  nature  of  per- 
ception and  of  conception  is  seen  in  Dexter  and  Garlick's  Psy- 
chology in  the  Schoolroom  (pp.  60  ff.,  150-156).  Even  Professor 
S.  S.  Colvin  (The  Learmng  Process,  p.  307)  mistakes  what  the 
Schoolmen  call  the  "phantasm,"  ordinarily  a  product  of  the  con- 
structive imagination,  for  the  concept  properly  so  called,  which  is 
the  work  of  the  intellect,  a  spiritual  power.  Hence  the  point  of 
his  criticism  of  Dr.  Moore,  in  the  footnote,  is  really  lost. 

^  Summa  Theologica,  I,  q.  21,  a.  2. 


Reflex  Action  as  a  Type,  245 

ness"  of  the  object/  The  concept,  or  intellectual 
idea,  is  indeed  a  "speaking  likeness" — a  species  ex- 
pressa — of  its  object.^  We  conclude,  therefore,  that, 
like  Aristotle,  the  Schoolmen  had  their  "reflex  arc  con- 
cept" realized  in  the  process  of  cognition  in  general  and 
therefore  in  its  two  great  classes,  viz.,  sense-perception 
and  intellection.  Furthermore,  they  were  careful  to 
teach  that  the  third  phase  of  the  arc  concept,  viz.,  the 
the  reaction,  is  a  vital  element  in  every  act  of  cognition. 
Desire,  volition,  muscular  movement  may  or  may  not 
follow.  The  cognition  is  a  complete  act,  a  triadic 
process,  without  that  sequel,  for  it  includes  (1)  the 
action  of  the  object  on  the  cognitive  power,  which  is  a 
true  "receptor";  (2)  a  true  union  of  the  object  with 
the  cognitive  power  whether  the  latter  be  sense  or  in- 
tellect— and  in  effecting  this  union  the  power  becomes 
a  true  "conductor";  (3)  the  response  of  the  power  to 
the  stimulus  in  its  own  proper  act  of  knowing,  wherein 
and  whereby  it  becomes  a  true  "adjuster."  ^ 

It  becomes  necessary  here  to  insert  a  word  of  protest 


^  Intellectual  ideas  all  vary  in  the  clearness  and  fulness  with 
which  they  represent  their  object.  Cf.  Cardinal  Zigliara's  classifi- 
cation   {Summa  Philosophica,  t.  i.,  Logica,  §2). 

^  This  is  the  real  meaning  of  the  species  expressa.  For  the 
scholastic  theory  of  sense-perception  and  of  intellection,  see  any  of 
the  standard  authors  like  Zigliara;  also  Brother  Barbas,  loc.  cit., 
Maher,  Psychology,  Chap.  XV;  Cardinal  Mercier,  La  notion  de 
la  Verite;  Mivart,  On  Truth.  In  its  broad  lines  the  peripatetic, 
or  scholastic,  theory  of  intellection  is  like  that  of  sense-percep- 
tion with  the  exception  of  the  power  of  abstraction  (intellectus 
agens),  which  is,  of  course,  unnecessary  for  the  process  of  sensa- 
tion. See  also  Brother  Azarias,  "Aristotle  and  the  Christian 
Church"  (pp.  108-110)  in  Essays  Philosophical. 

'  See  above,  p.  155. 


246  Psychological  Aspects  of  Faith, 

against  a  prevalent  doctrine  which  has  been  appropri- 
ated by  the  system  of  pragmatism  and  the  school  of 
"behaviorists."  This  is  the  principle  that  we  think 
only  when  we  face  a  crisis,  that  our  thought  springs 
from  doubt  as  to  how  we  may  or  should  solve  the  prob- 
lem presented  by  a  difficult  situation.^  This  is  almost 
equivalent  to  saying  that  mental  development  is  the 
product  of  hesitation.  Such  was  not  the  conviction  of 
the  most  constructive  century  of  the  medieval  period. 
Its  attitude  has  been  voiced  by  Tennyson : 

Doubt  not,  go  forward;  if  thou  doubt,  the  beasts 
Will  tear  thee  piecemeal.^ 

It  is  also  expressed  in  no  uncertain  terms  by  Card- 
inal Newman: 

"Of  4;he  two,  I  would  rather  have  to  maintain  that  we  ought  to 
begin  with  believing  everything  that  is  offered  to  our  acceptance, 
than  that  it  is  our  duty  to  doubt  of  everything.  The  former  in- 
deed seems  the  true  way  of  learning.  In  that  case,  we  soon  dis- 
cover and  discard  what  is  contradictory  to  itself;  and  error 
having  always  some  portion  of  truth  in  it,  and  the  truth  having  a 

^  Cf.  J.  Dewey,  Studies  in  Logical  Theory,  also  various  articles 
in  Monroe's  Cyclopedia  of  Education;  I.  E.  Miller,  Psychology  of 
Thinking,  pp.  1-3;  Colvin  and  Bagley,  Human  Behavior,  pp.  17, 
18;  S.  S.  Colvin,  The  Learning  Process,  p.  8.  (Colvin  and  Bagley 
are  moderate  in  their  views.)  Cf.  Titchener  (Beginner's  Psy- 
chology, pp.  262,  263) :  ''Most  of  our  thought  is  either  borrowed 
thought  or  routine  thought;  that  is,  is  not  (in  the  psychological 
sense)  thought  at  all;  independent,  sustained,  original  thinking 
is  as  rare  as  creative  imagination  or  as  sagacious  and  foresighted 
action."  It  is,  however,  particularly  in  the  following  section  on 
"Imaginal  [sic]  Processes  in  Thought:  The  Abstract  Idea"  that 
Professor  Titchener  is  inaccurate  (pp.  265-267).  Yet,  on  the 
other  hand,  see  Brother  Azarias,  Phages  of  Thought  and  Criti- 
cism, Chap.  II,  "On  Thinking";  also  Balmes'  method  of  study 
(Cf.  p.  vii,  "Notice  of  the  Author,"  in  European  Civilization). 

'The  Holy  Grail 


Reflex  Action  as  a  Type.  9,Vl 

reality  which  error  has  not,  we  may  expect,  that  when  there  is  an 
honest  purpose  and  fair  talents,  we  shall  somehow  make  our  way 
forward,  the  error  falling  off  from  the  mind,  and  the  truth  de- 
veloping and  occupying  it."  ^ 

Doubt  is  not  a  source  of  certainty.  Such  a  view 
could  obtain  only  where  the  principles  of  extreme  evo- 
lutionism run  riot.  It  is,  of  course,  not  more  difBcult 
to  evolve  mental  certitude  from  doubt  than  it  is  to  de- 
velop organized  matter  from  mere  dead  inorganic  mat- 
ter or  to  produce  the  most  refined  of  human  reasonings 
from  pure  brute  instinct.  Yet  all  proof  is  absolutely 
wanting  that  either  phenomenon  has  ever  been  an  actu- 
ality. Psychological  analysis  attests,  on  the  contrary, 
that  the  presence  of  doubt  inhibits  action.  This  one 
fact  affords  ground  for  an  illuminating  commentary  on 
the  blindness  of  pragmatism  ^  to  the  interests  of  its  own 
"idea"  as  a  "plan  of  action." 

The  serried  ranks  of  Catholic  philosophy,  therefore, 
stand  firm  for  the  intellectual  idea  as  radically  different 
from  the  sense-percept,  on  the  one  hand,  and  as  a  direct 
medium  of  knowing  "reality"  on  the  other.  Without 
the  true  concept,  the  intellectual  idea,  man  is  isolated 
from  the  external  world  and  therefore  from  all  the  nat- 
ural science  of  which  it  is  the  subject-matter.  He  be- 
comes kin  to  the  brute,  and  is  therefore  debarred  from 
mental  science.     For  him  there  is  no  self-conciousness,^ 


^Orammar  of  Assent,  p.  377  (ed.  1901). 

2  For  trenchant  criticism  of  this  aspect  of  pragmatism,  see  J.  T. 
Driscoll,  op.  cit.,  pp.  36-39. 

^  How  are  we  to  explain  the  strange  antipathy  to  consciousness 
shown  by  some  psychologists  and  some  behaviorists  ?  Cf.  E.  B. 
Titchener  (Begirmer's  Psychology,  pp.  324  ff.) ;  J.  B.  Watson, 
Behavior,  Chap.  I. 


S48  Psychological  Aspects  of  Faith, 

no  responsibility,  no  God.  The  intellectual  idea  is, 
therefore,  an  outpost  of  civilization,  a  condition  of  sci- 
entific progress,  a  basic  principle  of  all  true  art,^  an 
element  of  all  social  service,  the  avenue  of  approach  to 
God.^  It  is  not  without  reason  that  He  who  is  truth 
itself,  in  His  last  prayer  to  the  Father  for  His  dis- 
ciples, said:  "This  is  everlasting  life:  that  they  may 
know  Thee,  the  only  true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ  whom 
Thou  hast  sent."  ^  Not  without  reason  did  He  prom- 
ise to  send  them  the  Spirit  of  truth. 

Article  IV. — Habit. 

We  have  said  that  the  act  of  perception  as  elicited 
by  the  human  individual  after  he  has  come  to  the  use 
of  reason  is  a  very  complex  process.  It  includes  not 
only  the  sense-perception  of  which  the  mere  animal  is 
capable  and  which  is  itself  a  synthesis  of  sensations, 
but  also  at  least  one  act  of  intellection,  viz.,  that  of 
conception,  the  formation  of  a  true  idea.  This  would 
seem  to  give  sufficient  ground  for  calling  such  a  process 
an  act  proper  to  man  as  man.     There  are,  however. 


^  Cf.  St.  Thomas  (Stmnna  Theologica,  la-IIae,  q.  27,  a.  I,  ad  3) : 
"The  beautiful  adds  to  the  notion  of  the  good  a  peculiar  relation 
to  the  cognitive  powers."  Art  seeks  to  represent  the  spiritual 
under  appropriate  material  symbols.  It  is  "the  expression  of 
ideal  beauty  under  a  sensile  form"  (Cours  de  Philosophie,  par 
F.  J.,  F.  S.  C,  p.  320).  See  also  John  Rickaby,  S.  J.,  General 
Metaphysics,  pp.  147-157. 

^  "God  is  a  spirit,  and  they  that  adore  Him  must  adore  Him  in 
spirit  and  in  truth"  (John  iv,  24). 

'John  xvii,  3. 


Habit.  249 

other  reasons  of  weight.  Just  as  the  act  of  sense- 
perception  comes  to  be  influenced  by  past  sense-percep- 
tions which  have  in  some  way  left  their  trace  in  the 
nervous  system  giving  it  a  special  ^'set"  or  "bent"  or 
"disposition"  ^  that  modifies  all  subsequent  acts  hav- 
ing even  any  element  in  common  with  the  earlier  proc- 
esses, so  too  our  judgments  of  to-day  are  influenced 
by  those  of  yesterday  and  by  our  hopes,  desires  or  ex- 
pectations for  the  morrow.  If  it  be  true,  as  indeed  it 
is,  that  our  passing  moods  affect  our  attitude  toward 
persons  and  things,  much  greater  must  be  the  effect 
wrought  by  that  complex  of  emotions  growing  out  of 
heredity  and  experience,  which  we  call  temperament.^ 
Moreover,  "what  one  really  desires  is  the  best  pos- 
sible index  of  the  sort  of  character  one  really  pos- 
sesses." ^  Now,  the  chief  determinant  of  character  is 
habit. 

The  physiological  basis  of  habit  has  in  part  been  con- 
sidered in  connection  with  the  beginning  of  the  learning 
process,  in  part  also  in  connection  with  perception  and 
apperception.*  On  its  psychological  side,  habit,  in  its 
cognitive  aspect,  is  intimately  bound  up  with  memory; 
in  its  motor  aspect,  it  is,  outside  of  reflex  and  instinct- 


^Dr.  Dubray,  in  the  monograph  already  cited,  shows  how  con- 
sistent this  statement  is  with  the  fundamental  truths  of  Catholic 
philosophy  (pp.  28-32;  77-111;  151-167). 

^  "Whereas  mood  indicates  a  relatively  transitory  disposition 
toward  a  certain  emotional  tone,  temperament  refers  to  a  per- 
manent tendency,  contributing  to  the  very  warp  and  woof  of 
character."    J.  R.  Angell,  Psychology,  p.  391. 

'  Ibid.,  p.  433. 

*  See  pp.  213-216,  221,229,  235  ff.,  abov^. 


250  Psychological  Aspects  of  Faith, 

ive  action,  tHe  chief  determinant  of  behavior.  It  is  the 
psychological  phases  of  habit  that  must  now  engage 
our  attention.  The  relations  between  habit  and  in- 
stinct are  close  and  persistent.  The  tendency  to  in- 
stinctive action,  however,  is  inherited;  it  is  a  race  pos- 
session. Habit,  on  the  other  hand,  must  be  acquired 
by  the  individual.  When  it  has  become  a  "second  na- 
ture," it  may  sink  to  the  level  of  instinctive  action 
inasmuch  as  it  no  longer  demands  that  control  by  con- 
sciousness which  was  indispensable  during  its  forma- 
tion. Yet  like  many  an  instinctive  act,  an  habitual  act 
may  be  accompanied  by  consciousness.  Both  psy- 
chology and  daily  experience  tell  us  that  "habit  is,  in 
general,  the  outcome  of  practice."  ^  But  to  attain  the 
perfection  requisite  for  habit,  the  practice  must  follow 
certain  well-defined  laws.^  These  have  been  reduced  to 
three  heads:  "(1)  focalization  of  consciousness  upon 
the  combination  of  movements  to  be  made  automatic; 
(2)  attentive  repetition  of  this  behavior;  (3)  permit- 
ting no  exceptions  to  occur  until  the  habit  has  been 
established."  ' 

The  first  law  aims  to  assure  a  maximum  degree  of 
efficiency  with  a  minimum  expenditure  of  time  and 
energy.  To  attain  the  purpose  of  the  law  it  is  neces- 
sary to  give  attention  not  only  to  the  movements  ^  to 


^Titchener,  Beginner's  Psychology,  p.  170. 

^  Professor  James'  Principles  of  Psychology,  Vol.  I,  Chap.  XIV, 
is  still  a  classic  on  "Habit."  See  also  C.  A.  Dubray,  Catholic  Eur- 
cyclopedia  (s.  v.). 

^  Colvin  and  Bagley,  op.  cit.,  p.  168. 

^  This  term  must  be  taken  in  its  broad  sense  as  regulated  ac- 
tion, and  not  limited  to  muscular  movement. 


Habit.  251 

be  made,  but  also  to  their  serial  sequence,  and  their 
mutual  connection.  The  importance  of  this  law  is  en- 
hanced by  the  fact  that  to-day  psychologists  look  upon 
the  "idea  of  movement"  as  the  beginning  of  the  move- 
ment itself/  To  get  the  best  return  from  the  first  ef- 
forts at  forming  a  habit,  it  is,  however,  necessary  like- 
wise to  heed  Professor  James'  first  maxim,  that  "in 
the  acquisition  of  a  new  habit,  or  the  leaving  off  of  an 
old  one,  we  must  take  care  to  launch  ourselves  with  as 
strong  and  decided  an  initiative  as  possible.^'  ^ 

The  second  law  guards  against  mere  repetition,  and 
is  designed  to  promote  economy  of  effort.  It  therefore 
implies  due  consideration  of  the  intervals  between  repe- 
titions and  of  the  relative  frequency  of  the  repetitions. 
As  in  beginning  the  habit,  so  in  repeating  the  various 
steps,  it  is  important  to  keep  attention  and  interest  at 
high  tension.  They  are  the  mental  correlates  of  that 
strong  nerve  impulse  which,  according  to  the  neurone 
theory,  overflows  its  wonted  channel  and  opens  up  a 
new  outlet  for  the  discharge  of  this  nerve  energy. 

Hence  the  wisdom  and  the  necessity  of  the  third  law. 
The  needed  interest  is  best  sustained  when  the  first  de- 
mands made  for  the  building  of  habit  are  so  adjusted 
as  to  fall  easily  within  the  capacity  of  the  individual. 


^  The  Catholic  Church  has  through  the  centuries,  after  the  ex- 
ample of  her  Founder,  emphasized  this  doctrine.  She  still  teaches 
that  not  merely  bad  deeds,  but  even  evil  thoughts  and  desires,  are 
sinful.  The  overt  act  only  consummates  the  sinful  attitude.  Does 
not  psychology  endorse  this  doctrine  when  it  teaches  that  the 
"idea"  of  movement  is  the  beginning  of  the  movement  itself?  (Cf. 
J.  M.  Baldwin,  Mental  Development,  p.  167.) 

*Loc.   cit. 


S5^  Psychological  Aspects  of  Faith. 

The  initial  successes  thereby  attained  encourage  him  to 
renewed  and  to  greater  efforts,  and  so  feeling  and  emo- 
tion are  enlisted  in  the  service  of  the  will.  There  is  a 
world  of  sound  psychology  and  of  profound  spiritual 
truth  in  Professor  James'  two  remaining  maxims: 
"Seize  the  very  first  opportunity  to  act  on  every  reso- 
lution you  make,  and  on  every  emotional  prompting 
you  may  experience  in  the  direction  of  the  habits  you 
aspire  to  gain.  .  .  .  Keep  the  faculty  of  effort 
alive  in  you  by  a  little  gratuitous  exercise  every  day." 
— Such  are  the  general  laws  of  habit.  To  them  may  be 
added  a  special  rule  which  has  application  even  beyond 
the  school  room:  "Never  begin  the  mastery  of  two  con- 
flicting types  of  behavior  [such  as  the  learning  of  two 
foreign  languages  at  the  same  period  of  time]  unless 
both  can  be  continued  long  enough  to  become  perma- 
nently established  habits."  ^ 

From  the  laws  of  habit-formation  we  can  deduce  the 
factors  that  enter  into  the  process.  The  first  of  these 
is  repetition.  This  is  a  comprehensive  topic  and  em- 
braces such  subdivisions  as  (1)  the  number  of  repeti- 
tions that  prove  most  effective,  (2)  the  intervals  be- 
tween the  repetitions,  (3)  their  frequency,  (4)  their 
uniformity.^      A   second  factor   is   environment,   which 


*  Colvin  and  Bagley,  op.  cit.,  p.  175. 

^  With  reference  to  experiments  on  the  development  of  memory 
as  a  habit,  see  H.  Ebbinghaus  (tr.  H.  A.  Ruger  and  C.  E.  Bus- 
senius),  Memory,  and  E.  Meumann  (tr.  J.  W.  Baird),  The  Psy- 
chology of  Learning,  Chaps.  V-VII;  for  briefer  statements,  cf. 
S.  S.  Colvin,  op.  cit.,  pp.  42  ff.,  64  if.;  E.  J.  Swift,  Learning  and 
Doing,  pp.  128-131.  On  the  integration  of  habit  in  animals,  cf. 
J.  B.  Watson,  Behavior,  Chaps.  VI,  VII. 


Habit.  253 

must  remain  constant  throughout  the  period  required 
for  building  up  the  habit,  or  at  least  must  be  character- 
ized by  only  few  and  gradual  changes.  Otherwise  repe- 
tition properly  so-called  becomes  impossible.  This  is 
true  of  both  physical  and  social  environment,  of  both 
material  and  spiritual  environment.  The  third  great 
factor  in  the  forming  of  habit  is  motivation.  While,  in 
the  strictest  meaning  of  the  term,  motivation  can  refer 
only  to  man,  yet  by  analogy  it  may  be  extended  even  to 
the  brute  creation.  So  understood,  it  is  virtually  one 
with  Professor  Baldwin's  principle  of  "imitation," 
which  purports  to  give  a  "motive"  for  repetition.  He 
writes : 

"If  one  of  such  creatures  is  to  be  fitter  than  another  to  survive, 
it  must  be  the  creature  which  by  its  movements  secures  more  nutri- 
tive processes  and  avoids  more  dangerous  contacts.  .  .  .  This, 
too,  is  consonant  with  what  we  know  of  growth.  Increased  vital- 
ity tends  to  enlargement,  range  of  movement,  activity,  while 
lessened  vitality  and  organic  decay  tend  to  the  opposite  series  of 
effects,  shrinking,  contraction  of  range,  torpidity.  .  .  .  Crea- 
tures which  have,  in  their  own  method  of  reaction,  a  way  of  reach- 
ing after  the  stimulations  which  they  need — a  way  of  retaining 
contact  with  the  source  of  supply,  say  of  food,  or  oxygen,  or  sun- 
light, or  heat,  or  of  increasing  their  forces  by  actually  moving 
toward  it,  these  creatures  can,  in  a  measure,  find  or  make  for 
themselves!  the  regularities  which  the  environment  may  not  guar- 
antee. .  .  .  This  expansion  gives,  by  reason  of  the  new  stimu- 
lations which  it  brings  within  range,  a  heightened  central  process 
which  is  the  organic  basis  of  the  hedonic  consciousness;  and  this 
issues  in  the  varied  excess  movements  from  which  the  ontogenetic 
adaptations  of  the  organism  are  selected  by  association,  as  fitted 
in  turn  to  perpetuate  the  stimulations  which  give  pleasure,  and 
so  again  to  arouse  the  excess  process,  and  so  on."  ^ 


^Mental  Development,  pp.  201,  204.     "The  existence  of  habits 
implies  an  environment  sufficiently  constant  to  repeatedly  present 


254  Psychological  Aspects  of  Faith, 

In  other  words,  this  theory  attempts  to  account  for 
constantly  recurrent  repetitions  of  acts  by  the  organ- 
ism under  relatively  uniform  conditions  of  environment. 
While,  then,  it  is  true  that  "in  the  life  of  the  higher 
organisms,  such  as  pre-eminently  human  life,  the  mind 
has  superseded  all  other  agencies  and  processes  in  aid- 
ing and  securing  adjustments  to  environment."  ^ — in- 
cluding such  adjustments  as  are  necessary  for  habit- 
building, — yet  man  is  still  an  organism,  although  not 
merely  an  organism,  and  is,  therefore,  subject  to  such 
conditions  of  organic  life  as  are  essential  to  that  life. 
This  theory  has  the  further  advantage  of  giving  a  suf- 
ficient reason  for  that  strong  and  decided  "initiative" 
which  Professor  James  thinks  so  necessary  when  we 
attempt  to  inaugurate  a  habit.  The  element  of  the 
"synapse"  in  the  neurone  theory  specifies  the  kind  of 
inertia  to  be  overcome.  In  habit-building,  then,  we  may 
find  that  "well  begun  is  half  done."  These  reflections 
likewise  suggest  reasons  why  the  forming  of  certain 
habits  should  be  apprehended  as  vital  issues,  appealing 
to  our  deeper  interests,  in  whose  acquisition  we  must 
guard  against  waste  of  time  and  energy.  What  has 
been  said  of  positive  habits  is  equally  true  of  the  break- 
ing of  habits.  In  this  case,  the  repetition  is  negative; 
that  is,  the  act  is  allowed  to  fall  into  disuse,  or  it  is 
inhibited  by  contrary  acts  which  are  themselves  sub- 
ject to  the  laws  of  habit  formation. 


to  the  organism  the  same  or  closely  similar  conditions."  Joseph 
Jastrow,  Popular  Science  Monthly,  Vol.  XLII  (Nov.,  1892),  pp. 
36-48. 

ilbid.,  pp.  233,  234. 


Habit.  9>55 

These  laws  and  these  factors  of  habit  help  to  eluci- 
date the  scholastic  definition  of  habit  as  "a  quality 
difficult  to  change,  whereby  an  agent  whose  nature  it 
is  to  work  one  way  or  another  indeterminately,  is  dis- 
posed easily  and  readily  at  will  to  follow  this  or  that 
particular  line  of  action."  ^  According,  therefore,  to 
the  view  of  St.  Thomas,  only  such  spiritual  powers  as 
intellect  and  will  are,  properly  speaking,  capable  of 
habit.  By  extension,  however,  and  in  the  measure  of 
their  control  by  intellect  and  will,  the  term  may  also 
be  applied  to  acquired  sensory  and  motor  qualities.  It 
is  in  this  sense  that  we  are  to  understand  Professor 
Baldwin:  "Habit  is  the  tendency  of  an  organism  to 
continue  more  and  more  readily  processes  which  are 
vitally  beneficial."  ^ 

The  effects  of  habit  are  commonly  separated  into  two 
classes ;  such  as  are  advantageous  to  the  individual,  and 
such  as  are  injurious.  Of  the  former  class  many  sug- 
gestions liave  already  been  given  in  treating  of  the  laws 
and  of  the  factors  of  habit.  On  its  physiological  side, 
habit  means  readiness  to  act,  owing  to  the  definite  set 
given  to  the  nervous  system  by  previous  energetic  repe- 
titions, and  the  strong  associations  established.  On  its 
psychological  side,  it  therefore  means  a  lessening  of 
effort,  attended  often  with  a  corresponding  increase  of 
pleasure  at  the  facility  with  which  the  act  is  done  and 
the  skill  that  marks  its  execution.  It  is  only  when  the 
attitude  developed  by  habit  is  primarily  passive  that 


*  Jos.  Rickaby,  S.  J.,  Moral  Philosophy ^  p.  64. 
^Mental  Development,  p.  476. 


S56  Psychological  Aspects  of  Faith. 

the  habitual  act  moves  from  the  "focus"  to  the  "mar- 
gin" of  consciousness.  When,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
habit  has  an  active  connotation,  although  the  feeling 
of  effort  no  longer  appears,  the  attention  which  the 
act  receives  is  that  of  a  master,  a  connoisseur  ^  and 
expert.  This  absence  of  effort  leaves  the  mind  free  to 
devote  its  energy  to  other  pursuits,  and  hence  it 
is  a  condition  of  individual  education  and  of  social 
progress. 

The  most  serious  of  the  dangers  that  may  flow  from 
an  acquired  habit  is  said  to  be  automatism,  whereb}'' 
the  individual  is  held  firmly  in  the  grip  of  the  habit. ^ 
When  the  acquisition  is  a  gain  for  man  in  his  quest  for 
the  realization  of  high  ideals  of  intellect,  morals,  and 
culture,  this  quality  of  habit  is  to  be  regarded  as  a 
natural  reward  for  his  expenditure  of  time,  energy,  and 
ability.  It  means  that  henceforth,  in  this  particular 
field  of  endeavor,  he  may  not  only  have  a  wider  out- 
look together  with  broader  and  deeper  interests,  but 
also  may  command  greater  skill ;  for  the  laborious  ef- 
forts of  an  earlier  stage  have  now  become  quasi-in- 
stinctive reactions.^     But  when  such  a  habit  is  a  pos- 


'  Titchener  {Beginner's  Psychology,  p.  102)  calls  this  derived 
primary  attention.  In  his  earlier  Primer,  he  had  called  it  sec- 
ondary passive  attention,  a  name  that  still  obtains  in  many  texts. 
Baldwin  (Feeling  and  Will,  p.  49)  presents  only  one  side  of  the 
case  when  he  says:  "Psychologically,  it  [habit]  means  loss  of 
oversight,  diffusion  of  attention,  subsiding  consciousness." 

2  "One  can  never  say  at  what  precise  moment  it  may  become 
literally  impossible  to  shake  off  a  bad  habit."  J.  R.  Angell,  op. 
cit.,  p.  78. 

^  Cf .  J.  M.  Baldwin:  "Every  new  thing  is  an  adaptation,  and 
every  adaptation  arises  right  out  of  the  bosom  of  old  processes 


Habit.  257 

session  that  is  injurious  to  man  as  man,  then  is  he  a 
slave  indeed.  His  lot  is  more  pitiable  than  that  of  the 
most  wretched  serf  that  ever  lived.  For  his  captivity  is 
from  within.  It  is  bred  in  bone  and  blood,  in  nerve  and 
sinew.  Then,  indeed,  must  he  place  his  trust  in  the 
power  of  the  Most  High  if  he  would  be  free  from  this 
thralldom.  If  he  be  a  Catholic  he  will  find  in  the  sacra- 
ment of  penance  a  channel  of  divine  grace,  which,  al- 
though it  does  not  take  away  all  the  effects  of  evil 
habit,  yet  lessens  the  malignity  of  their  influence  and 
gives  the  penitent  special  help  to  fight  against  his  bonds 
and  to  acquire  the  opposite  virtue.  Merely  from  a  ped- 
agogical point  of  view  the  penitent  saints  whom  the 
Catholic  Church  honors  every  year  are  a  splendid  stim- 
ulus to  all  who  read  the  lesson  aright.  They  encourage 
him  who  has  gone  astray,  to  return  to  God  "with  his 
whole  heart";  and  they  support  the  steps  of  the  faint- 
hearted. Hence  the  memory  of  their  example  is  a  social 
asset  of  the  highest  value. 

It  is  the  external  aspects  of  habit  that  engage  the 
popular  mind.  This,  indeed,  is  to  be  expected;  but  it 
is  not  an  unmixed  blessing  that  the  same  phase  should 
be    emphasized   by    behaviorists   like   Professor   J.    B. 


and  is  filled  with  old  matter"  (Mental  Developmnent,  p.  218). 
"Apperception"  limits  this  principle  to  the  field  of  knowledge  di- 
rectly; indirectly,  however,  even  here,  it  extends  to  attitudes  and 
behavior  so  far  as  these  are  affected  by  one's  knowledge,  convic- 
tions, and  point  of  view.  For  this  there  is  a  neural  basis:  "Each 
new  accommodation  secured  by  central  nervous  development  is 
not  new  at  all  in  principle,  but  rests  directly  upon  imitation  [in 
its  broader  meaning]  and  association.  Its  characteristic  feature, 
however,  is  its  complexity"   (p.  287). 


S58  Fsychologlcal  Aspects  of  Faith, 

Watson  and  pragmatlsts  who  follow  the  lead  of  Pro- 
fessor James.  Such  an  attitude,  in  fact,  must  eventu- 
ally run  counter  to  the  very  tendency  of  mind  which 
behaviorist  and  pragmatist  seek  to  propagate/  It  has 
long  been  known,  it  is  even  demonstrated  by  experiment, 
that  the  ''idea"  exercises  a  controlling  influence  over  the 
external  action.  The  principle  lies  at  the  root  of 
Christian  teaching:  the  decalogue  is  the  corollary  of 
the  creed.  But  the  sole  purpose  of  the  idea  is  not  the 
mere  control  of  our  outward  actions.  Not  even  when 
the  idea  is  interpreted  in  the  sense  of  John  Locke  is  this 
true.  The  cognitive  activity  of  the  animal — rational 
or  irrational — always  tends  at  least  to  emphasize  its 
motor  activity.  Were  this  not  true  of  man,  he  could 
not  be  influenced  by  ideals.  How  profoundly  the  in- 
dividual, through  slight  initial  cognitive  "variations" 
or  points  of  view,  may  eventually  come  to  differ  from 
his  fellows,  is  a  study  that  falls  under  the  heads  of  ap- 
perception and  the  personal  equation.^  It  is  aptly 
illustrated  in  the  divergent  mental  "set"  of  the  typical 
literary  man  and  the  scientist,^  a  difference  that  is  man- 
ifested, but  in  a  lesser  degree,  by  many  children  very 


^  Cf.  J.  T.  DriscoU,  op.  cit.,  pp.  26  f .,  38  f .,  93  f . 

^See  above,  pp.  36-38,  56,  note  2.  A  good  Scriptural  illustra- 
tion is  found  in  the  parable  of  the  good  Samaritan  (Luke  x, 
30-37) ;  another,  in  the  conduct  of  Christ's  hearers  when  the  mys- 
tery of  the  holy  eucharist  was  first  broached  {John  vi,  60-72). 

'  Cf.  Brother  Azarias,  "Literary  and  Scientific  Habits  of 
Thought,"  Chap.  V,  in  Phases  of  Thought  and  Criticism.  A  like 
difference  is  drawn  by  Cardinal  Newman  {Grammar  of  Assent, 
passim)  between  the  Christian  believer  as  such  and  the  theologian 
as  such;  v.  g.,  "Credence,"  pp.  63-68  (ed.  1901). 


Habit.  259 

early  in  the  schoolroom  in  their  antipathy  for  arith- 
metic (often  an  indication  of  literary  bent)  with  a  cor- 
responding liking  for  language  study,  and  vice  versa} 
Moreover,  since  right  habits  are  ordinarily  the  result 
of  enlightened  practice,  the  following  observations  of 
Professor  Titchener  are  here  timely,  since  they  empha- 
size the  intellectual  aspects  of  practice: 

"In  psychological  experiments,  the  practiced  observer  has  a 
threefold  superiority  over  the  unpracticed:  his  attitude  to  the 
stimuli,  in  successive  observations,  is  more  nearly  uniform;  his 
attention  is  sustained  at  a  higher  level,  and  his  discrimination  is 
more  refined.  This  means  that  the  focal  mental  processes  are  few 
in  number;  that  they  are  extremely  vivid;  and  that  they  are  pro- 
tected by  strong  inhibitory  forces,  against  intrusion  from  the 
outside."  * 

Finally,  the  importance  of  right  intellectual  habits 
is  insisted  upon  by  scholastic  philosophers,  notably  by 
St.  Thomas  Aquinas,  and  by  the  Catholic  Church  her- 
self. The  doctrine  of  the  Angelic  Doctor  on  the  sub- 
ject has  been  presented  with  discriminating  comment 
under  three  heads  by  Father  Joseph  Rickaby,  from 
whom  we  quote :  ^ 

"An  intellectual  virtue  [habit]  gives  one  a  facility  in  doing  a 
good  act;  but  a  moral  virtue  not  only  gives  facility,  but  makes 
one  put  the  facility  in  use  [i.  e.,  disposes  one  to  exercise  the  fa- 
cility]. .  .  .  The  special  intellectual  habit  called  art  disposes 
a  man  to  act  correctly  toward  some  particular  end,  but  a  moral 
habit  toward  the  common  end,  scope  and  purpose  of  all  human 


^  For  this  reason  it  is  often  wise  to  have  a  "double  standard" 
of  classification  in  the  lower  grades  in  order  to  secure  symmetry  of 
mental  development  for  the  child. 

^Beginner's  Psychology,  p.  170. 

^  Moral  Philosophy,  pp.  73-77. 


^60  Psychological  Aspects  of  Faith, 

life.  .  .  .  The  grand  distinction  .  .  .  seems  to  be  this,  that 
moral  habits  reside  in  powers  which  may  act  against  the  dictate  of 
the  understanding,  .  .  .  whereas  the  power  which  is  the  seat 
of  the  intellectual  habits,  the  understanding,  cannot  possibly  act 
against  itself.  .  .  .  Absolutely  speaking,  intellectual  virtue  is 
the  greater  perfection  of  a  man.  But  moral  virtue  is  the  greater 
safeguard.  .  .  .  Sin  is  worse  than  ignorance,  and  more  against 
reason,  because  it  is  against  the  doer's  own  reason." 

Whence  he  concludes :  "The  moral  virtues  are  the 
virtues  of  this  world,  intellectual  virtue  is  the  virtue  of 
the  life  to  come." 

The  attitude  of  the  Catholic  Church  may  be  shown 
from  two  viewpoints:  1.  She  teaches  that  there  are 
truths  which  we  are  bound  to  know  either  as  means  of 
salvation  or  because  of  positive  precept;  2.  She  con- 
demns heresy  as  a  most  grievous  sin  against  Him  who 
said,  "I  am  the  truth."  And  it  was  the  Redeemer  Him- 
self who  declared:  "You  shall  know  the  truth,  and  the 
truth  shall  make  you  free."  ^ 

Just  as  grace  takes  nature  and  transforms  man  into 
the  Christian,  so  the  function  of  habit  is  to  control, 
co-ordinate,  and  ennoble  instinctive  behavior  and  thus 
develop  the  human  animal  into  the  cultured  and  up- 
right man.  In  both  cases,  the  basis  is  the  same ;  but, 
under  favorable  conditions  the  operation  of  grace  be- 
gins on  a  higher  level  than  that  of  mere  sentient  life. 
Of  the  ways  of  modifying  instinctive  behavior,  three 
may  here  be  specially  noted.^  Each  of  them  illustrates 
very  clearly  the  motive  power  of  feeling  and  emotion. 

I.     The  first  of  these  has  to  do  with  an  undesirable 

*  John  xiv,  6 ;  viii,  32. 

'Cf.  Colvin  and  Bagley,  op.  cit.,  Chap.  X. 


Habit.  261 

instinct  for  the  individual  and  for  society;  as,  for  ex- 
ample, the  impulse  to  appropriate  to  one's  self  what 
rightfully  belongs  to  another,  whether  the  thing  cov- 
eted is  material  or  spiritual,  whether  it  be  money  or 
honor.  Here  the  problem  is  to  associate  a  feeling  of 
deeply  rooted  aversion  for  the  object  which  now  ex- 
cites cupidity  and  thereby  to  inhibit  the  tendency  to 
appropriate  it/  The  process  must  be  continued  until 
the  desired  modification  of  the  instinct  has  been  estab- 
lished as  a  habit.  The  doctrine  of  "moral  training  by 
natural  consequence"  may  sometimes  be  applied  here 
with  good  effect.^  In  general,  this  method  of  modify- 
ing instinct  in  children,  and  even  in  mere  animals,  is 
regarded  as  belonging  to  the  process  of  learning  by 
trial  and  error,  the  motive  for  getting  the  new  habit 
being  chiefly  the  pleasure  that  is  made  to  attend  every 
approach  to  its  acquisition  and  the  penalty  with  which 
failure  is  visited.  While  the  method  applies  especially 
to  children,^  it  has  its  place  throughout  life  in  the  work 


^  Cf .  W.  James,  Talks  to  Teachers,  pp.  40-43,  who  there  repre- 
sents the  problem  as  the  attempt  to  change  the  middle  stage  of  a 
reflex  action,  sensorimotor  action  in  the  case  that  he  chooses,  to 
the  level  of  conscious  deliberation,  and  thereby  delay  the  response 
to  the  stimulus.  A  good  illustration  in  the  spiritual  order  is 
found  in  the  means  which  St.  J.  B.  de  la  Salle  recommends  to  his 
Brothers  {Collection,  pp.  121,  122)  to  enable  them  to  perform 
their  actions  well.     See  p.  99,  above. 

*  Paul  Monroe  {Text-book  in  the  History  of  Education,  p.  659) 
formulates  the  doctrine  thus:  "Allow  the  child  to  suffer  the 
natural  results  of  his  own  acts  without  the  intervention  of  human 
beings  to  protect  or  to  punish."  It  is  associated  with  the  names  of 
Rosseau  and  Spencer,  who,  however,  do  not  agree  in  their  inter- 
pretation of  it. 

^  The  tendency  to  sensorimotor  and  ideomotor  actions,  i.  e.,  the 
tendency  to  react  upon  impression  without  due  reflection,  is  char- 


26^  Psychologic  at  Aspects  of  Faith. 

of  perfecting  one's  character.  Here,  too,  success  must 
prompt  to  more  earnest  endeavor,  and  failure  must  be 
met  with  a  penalty  which  is  not  easily  forgotten,  and 
which  will  prove  to  be  an  adequate  safeguard  against 
future  relapses.  Pleasure  and  pain  exercise  the  simplest 
and  the  most  direct  influence  in  modifying  instinctive 
reactions.  They  are  also  the  most  general  means,  both 
in  space  and  in  time,  for  they  apply  to  both  man  and 
the  brute  creation;  and  they  lie  at  the  root  of  all  edu- 
cation, whether  primary  or  advanced.  Indeed,  the 
great  problem  of  education,  as  it  is  the  great  question 
of  life,  is  simply  this :  How  may  the  appropriate  feel- 
ing be  permanently  attached  to  each  of  the  great  ob- 
jects of  human  endeavor?  It  is  not  enough  to  link 
pleasure  so  inseparably  with  an  object  that  we  no 
longer  perceive  the  reality  except  as  tinged  with 
the  associations  arising  from  agreeable  experiences. 
Fear,  too,  must  ever  be  held  in  reserve  as  an  essen- 
tial motive.  For  there  are  moments  in  life  when  man 
tends  to  fall  to  the  level  of  his  so-called  "primi- 
tive" state.     Then  whether  one  be  adult  or  child,  he 


acteristic  not  only  of  children  in  years,  but  also  of  many  who  have 
become  children  through  the  infirmities  consequent  on  old  age, 
who  are  in  their  "second  childhood."  One  of  the  great  evils  attend- 
ing the  patronage  of  moving-picture  shows  is  precisely  the  pro- 
longing of  this  period  of  sensorimotor  reaction — a  period  when  ani- 
mal instinct  dominates  and  reason  remains  inactive.  This  is  con- 
firmed by  the  testimony  of  the  State  Board  of  Censors  in  many 
parts  of  our  land.  See  editorial.  Catholic  Standard  and  Times, 
Feb.  26,  1916.  A  like  statement  might  be  made  of  not  a  few 
vaudeville  performances. — The  action  is  called  sensorimotor  "if 
the  object  is  still  perceived,  as  it  is  in  the  impulsive  action  proper, 
and  ideomotor,  if  the  perception  is  replaced  with  an  idea  of  ob- 
ject."   Titchener,  Beginner's  Psychology,  p.  243. 


Habit.  2Q3 

needs  the  restraint  of  a  great  and  salutary  fear.^ 
While,  then,  the  Christian  dispensation  teaches  the 
law  of  love,  it  also  proclaims  far  and  wide  the  doctrine 
of  everlasting  punishment  for  the  grievous  sin  in  which 
one  dies ;  for  that  sin  persists  as  a  state,  it  endures  as 
a  habit  of  rebellion  against  man^s  Creator.  It  was  a 
profoundly  Catholic  spirit  that  moved  Dante  to  write 
on  the  gates  of  hell  the  words  which  that  abode  of  the 
lost  may  be  conceived  as  addressing  now  to  man: 

"To  rear  me  was  the  task  of  power  divine, 
Supremest  wisdom,  and  primeval  love."^ 

For  the  power  of  the  Father,  the  wisdom  of  the  Son, 
and  the  love  of  the  Holy  Ghost  have  conspired  to  make 
hell  a  strong  buttress  for  man's  tottering  will.  In  the 
Catholic  Church  also  from  the  very  beginning  of  her 
existence  penalties  have  been  inflicted  upon  such  of  her 
children  as  refused  to  conform  to  the  law  and  to  cul- 
tivate the  habit  of  upright  living.  The  character  of 
these  punitive  measures  has  naturally  varied  with  place 
and  time,  since  disciplinary  rules  are  enacted  and  en- 
forced for  the  benefit  of  the  governed.  Moreover,  the 
example  of  the  Church  in  this  respect  has  been  followed 
by  all  the  religious  orders  in  their  efforts  to  approach 
their  respective  ideals. 

We  have  said  that  this  method  of  modifying  instinct 
is  exercised  chiefly  through  pleasurable  and  painful  re- 
action; and  this  is  true.     But  such  a  statement  ex- 


'  Rom.  vii,  23-26. 

^Inferno,  Canto  III  (Gary's  trans. J. 


264  Psychological  Aspects  of  Faith, 

presses  but  a  part  of  the  truth.  The  method  really 
consists  in  'Hhe  attachment  of  another  feeling  with  its 
appropriate  response  to  an  object  that  naturally 
arouses  an  undesirable  instinct,"  ^  This  suggests  a 
broader  outlook,  one,  indeed,  that  is  perfectly  recon- 
cilable with  ripe  scholarship,  genuine  culture,  and  ster- 
ling spirituality.^  For  in  this  method  there  are  three 
factors:  (1)  the  object  which  is  retained;  (2)  the  feel- 
ing toward  it  which  is  to  be  changed  permanently  and 
is  to  prompt  the  opposite  reaction  to  that  which 
springs  from  nature;  (3)  the  point  of  view,  which  is  to 
transform  the  feeling.  When  so  presented  the  method 
is  seen  to  be  fundamentally  one  with  the  work  of  the 
Christian  Church  from  the  very  beginning.^  The  first 
duty  of  the  Christian  is  to  look  upon  his  environment, 
material  and  spiritual,  physical  and  social,  natural  and 
supernatural,  with  "the  eyes  of  faith,"  as  the  Saviour 
Himself  would  look  upon  it.  Then  he  is  to  "enlarge  his 
heart,"  loving  what  Christ  would  have  him  love,  and 
hating  what  his  divine  Teacher  would  have  him  hate. 
These  emotions  then  release  the  "heightened  discharge" 
of  energy  which  makes  the  reaction  a  decisive  gain. 
Have  we  not  here  reduced  the  scheme  of  the  whole 
Christian    life,    when    dominated    by    living    faith,    to 


^Colvin  and  Bagley,  op.  cit.,  p.  150. 

2Cf.  The  Imitation  (Bk.  I,  Chap.  XXV,  4):  "Two  things  espe- 
cially conduce  to  great  improvement;  namely,  forcibly  to  with- 
draw oneself  from  what  nature  is  viciously  inclined  to,  and  fer- 
vently to  follow  up  the  good  one  is  most  in  need  of." 

'  This  has  been  described  by  T.  W.  Allies  with  great  philosophic 
insight  and  historic  evidence  in  The  Formation  of  Christendom, 
VoL  I. 


Habit.  266 

the  elements   suggested  by  the   "reflex  arc   concept"? 
II.     A  second  method  may  be  used  to  modify  in- 
stinct.    Whereas  the  essence  of  the  first  method  lies 
in  changing  the  feeling  which  the  object  naturally  ex- 
cites, the  efficacy  of  the  second  consists   in  bringing 
about  a  change  of  response,  although  the  object  and 
the  feeling  remain  unchanged.     To   a  certain  extent, 
this  plan  of  action  presupposes  the  fruitful  use  of  the 
first  method.     It  assumes  that  the  child,  for  example, 
knows  something  of  the  real  worth  of  the  object,  that 
it  is  attracted  toward  what  is  good  and  feels  aversion 
for  what  is  evil,  and  that  it  is  gradually  giving  to  this 
attitude  of  mind  the  stability  that  is  characteristic  of 
habit.     There  remains,  then,  the  response  to  the  ob- 
ject.    Hence  the  problem  is  one  of  better  or  worse.     It 
opens  up  the  discussion  of  a  second  great  function  of 
education,  viz.,  substitution :  ^  the  substitution  of  what 
is  better  for  what  is  merely  good,  of  the  higher  mode 
of  action  for  the  lower,  of  the  rational  and  deliberate, 
for  the  sensorimotor  and  reflex,  of  what  is  also  social 
for  what  is  purely  individual,  of  the  supernatural  and 
Christian  for  the  natural  and  merely  human;  finally, 
of  the  viewpoint,  the   sentiments,  the   conduct  of  the 
typical  religious  for  the  thoughts,  the  emotions,  and 
the  behavior  of  the  ordinary  believer  in  Christ.     It  is  a 
region  where  every  solid  gain  that  is  made  means  for 
its  possessor  a  wider  outlook,  a  higher  ideal,  a  more 


^  "Educationally,  this  method  is  important  in  connection  with 
most  of  the  individualistic  instincts,  with  some  of  the  adaptive 
instincts,  and  especially  with  the  sex  instincts."  Colvin  and  Bag- 
ley,  op.  cit,  p.  157. 


^66  Psychological  Aspects  of  Faith. 

thoroughgoing  sense  of  duty.  Just  as  the  first  method 
may,  as  we  have  seen,  be  used  with  great  effect  by  the 
Christian  as  such,  so  this  second  method  seems  to 
have  a  special  value  for  the  novice  in  the  religious  life. 
Dr.  F.  W.  Foerster  ^  draws  a  suggestive  lesson  from 
decerebrate  frogs.  When  acid  is  applied  to  the  toes, 
the  frog  immediately  reacts,  contracting  its  leg.  So, 
too,  the  average  hot-tempered  boy  is  prone  to  "hit 
back"  under  supposed  provocation.  Is  he  not  also 
"decerebrate"  when  he  yields  to  this  impulse?  Should 
he  not  rather  act  according  to  the  moral  law,  act  as 
becomes  a  human  being?  Better  still,  should  he  not 
hearken  to  the  divine  voice  that  said:  "But  I  say  to 
you,  love  your  enemies,  do  good  to  them  that  hate 
you"?  ^  The  novice  professes  to  be  seeking  the  higher 
way.  This  method  will  leadliim  thereto.  At  its  lower 
levels  and  in  the  natural  order  it  is  made  the  subject 
of  an  urgent  plea  by  all  educators  who  have  the  wel- 
fare of  the  country  at  heart.  But  it  is  only  in  Cath- 
olic schools,  especially  when  taught  by  religious,  that 
the  principle  can  receive  its  normal  development.  How 
important  it  is  to  favor  and  further  such  unimpeded 
growth  may  appear  more  convincingly  when  we  have 
traced  its  relation  to  what  Professor  Baldwin  calls  the 
principle  of  "accommodation,"  and  which  is  intimately 


^  Jugendlehre,  pp.  261  ff.  About  one-third  of  this  book,  con- 
sisting of  selected  portions,  has  been  translated  into  English  and 
published  under  the  title.  The  Art  of  Living.  It  is  a  subject  of 
sincere  regret  that  the  whole  book  has  not  been  done  into  our 
tongue. 

»Matt.  V,  44. 


Habit,  267 

bound  up  with  habit  in  the  work  of  education  and  of 
life. 

"Accommodation  ...  is  opposed  to  habit  in  two  ways:  first, 
it  has  reference  to  new  movements, — a  prospective  reference, — 
while  habit  has  reference  always  to  movements  more  or  less  old,  a 
retrospective  reference,  and  so  it  runs  ahead  of  habit;  and  second, 
it  tends,  by  the  selection  of  new  movements,  to  come  into  direct 
conflict  with  old  habitual  movements,  and  so  to  disintegrate  habits. 
.  .  .  But  continued  accommodation  is  possible  only  because 
.  .  .  habit  all  the  time  conserves  the  past  and  gives  points 
d'appui  in  solidified  structure  [i.  e.,  in  the  nervous  system]  for 
new  accommodations.  Inasmuch,  further,  as  the  copy  [for  imita- 
tion] becomes,  by  transference  from  the  world  to  the  mind,  capable 
of  internal  revival  in  memory,  accommodation  takes  on  a  new 
character — a  conscious,  subjective  character — in  volition."  ^ 

If  we  now  connect  "accommodation"  and  "habit" 
with  the  "neurone  theory,"  which  has  many  points  of 
resemblance  to  Professor  Baldwin's  "law  of  dynamo- 
genesis,"  ^  we  find  that  "accommodation"  arises  where 
habitual  actions  take  place  under  conditions  of  high 
nerve-tension  on  their  physiological  side  and  interested 
attention  on  their  psychological  side.  Under  such  con- 
ditions of  "heightened  discharge"  of  the  nerve-currents 
and  of  either  voluntary  attention  or  the  attention  due 
to  long  practice  and  resultant  skill,^  it  is  possible  for 
one  to  improve  on  his  previous  record;  that  is,  to  make 
new  "accommodations."  These  may  bear  primarily 
an  intellectual  aspect,  conferring  deeper  insight  into 


^Mental  Development,  pp.  478,  479;  cf.  pp.  384,  387. 

=»  Ibid,  p.  167. 

'  Titchener  calls  these  phases  of  attention  respectively  "sec- 
ondary" and  "derived  primary"  (Beginner's  Psychology,  pp.  95, 
97;  Text-book,  pp.  268-276). 


S68  Psychological  Aspects  of  Faith, 

the  nature  of  things,  or  they  may  chiefly  affect  con- 
duct. In  other  words,  they  may  be  classed  as  illustra- 
tions of  the  two  great  types  of  reaction — the  sensory 
and  the  motor/  When  the  environment  remains  con- 
stant and  the  subjective  conditions  are  practically  un- 
changed, then  this  new  "accommodation'^  may  in  turn 
become  fixed  as  a  "habit."  Paraphrasing  Tennyson's 
lines,  we  insist,  therefore. 

That  men  may  rise  on  stepping  stones 
Of  their  set  habits  to  higher  things. 

This  is  the  method  of  which  the  artist  makes  use 
in  developing  his  talent.  This  is  also  the  method  em- 
ployed by  the  scientist  for  attaining  skill  in  the  tech- 
nique of  observation  and  experiment.  This  is  the  way 
which  the  saints  took  in  climbing  to  heights  of  sanctity. 
"iWe  think  little  of  little  things,"  says  Father  Faber. 
"Yet  this  is  the  only  road  to  solid  virtue.  It 
is  not  what  we  read  of  in  the  saints  that  made  them 
saints:  it  was  what  we  do  not  read  of  them  that  en- 
abled them  to  be  what  we  wonder  at  while  we  read ;"  ^ 
and  again:  "The  saints  were  men  who  did  less  than 
other  people,  but  who  did  what  they  had  to  do  a  thou- 


^  See  "Reaction,"  Baldwin's  Dictionary  of  Philosojjhy  and  Psy- 
.  chology;  also  Titchener  (Text-book,  pp.  433  ff.,  Beginner'^  Psy- 
chology, pp.  239  ff.),  who  adds  a  third,  or  mixed,  type.  It  would 
seem  that  Mary  as  presented  to  us  in  Scripture  by  St.  Luke 
(x,  38-42)  belonged  to  the  sensory  type,  while  her  sister  Martha 
was  distinctly  motor  in  tendency.  The  former  is  a  model  for  the 
contemplative  religious  orders;  the  latter,  for  those  that  follow 
the  active  life.  The  third  type  would  thus  concern  the  great 
majority  of  the  orders.  See  also  Baldwin,  op.  cit.,  pp.  460-466, 
Social  and  Ethical  Interpretations,  p.  26. 

2  Growth  in  Holiness,  p.  297. 


Habit.  269 

sand  times  better."  ^  This  therefore  is  the  way  which 
the  novice  must  regularly  pursue  if  he  would  be  true  to 
his  calling.^ 

III.  The  first  two  methods  of  modifying  instinctive 
behavior  agree  in  this,  that  the  object  remains  the 
same.  Yet  they  differ  in  important  respects.  The  first 
method  seeks  to  modify  response  by  changing  the  feel- 
ing toward  the  object,  the  motive  for  the  change  be- 
ing pleasure  or  pain,  i,  e.,  feelings  that  man  possesses  in 
common  with  the  mere  animal  order.  The  second  method, 
however,  retains  both  the  object  and  the  feeling  which 
it  excites,  but  seeks  to  elevate  the  tone  of  the  response. 
It  is,  therefore,  a  more  difficult  method,  and  presup- 
poses some  progress  already  gained  in  the  control  of 
instinctive  reactions.  The  third  method  retains  only 
the  feeling,  but  detaches  it  both  from  the  object  by 
which  it  is  naturally  aroused  and  from  the  response 
to  which  it  is  naturally  allied  as  being  the  motive  for 
that  response,  and  attempts  to  graft  it  upon  another 
trunk;  that  is,  upon  a  totally  different  object  and  a 
widely  different  response.  "This  process  is  sometimes 
called  the  sublimation  of  the  instinct,  and  its  importance 
lies  in  the  possibility  of  thus  enlisting  in  the  service  of 
an  important  social  [and  religious]  ideal  the  powerful 
force  that  the  native  feeling  represents  and  the  energy 
that  it  may  set  free."  ^     Holy  Writ  presents  us  with 

^  Spiritual  Conferences,  p.  280. 

^  Later,  in  the  sociological  section  of  this  book,  we  shall  see  an- 
other aspect  of  this  principle.     See  pp.  323  f.,  below. 

^  Colvin  and  Bagley,  op.  cit.,  p.  159.  As  examples  of  eifective 
attempts  to  "sublimate"  primitive  instincts  they  cite  the  Salvation 


270  Psychological  Aspects  of  Faith, 

an  admirable  illustration  in  the  person  of  St.  Paul. 
All  that  intensity  of  feeling  which,  as  member  of  the 
"most  strict  sect  of  the  Pharisees,"  he  discharged  in 
unwearied  labor  for  the  cause  of  Judaism,  he  trans- 
ferred, after  his  conversion  (the  word  is  most  apt  in 
this  case),  to  the  defence  of  the  Christian  Church  and 
the  propagation  of  Christian  teaching.  Even  more 
striking  is  the  instance  of  Mary  Magdalen.  By  the 
influence  of  divine  grace  her  love  was  lifted  up  from 
earthly  degradation  and  so  purified  and  transfigured 
as  to  be,  according  to  the  Saviour's  promise,  a  sub- 
ject of  reverent  wonder  for  all  ages  to  come.  Passing 
beyond  the  apostolic  age,^  we  find  another  great  ex- 
ample of  this  third  method  in  St.  Augustine.  Accord- 
ing to  his  own  testimony,  as  given  in  his  Confessions, 
motivation  here  operated  very  slowly.  Finally  grace 
triumphed  over  nature  and  enabled  him  to  transfer  all 
the  ardor  of  his  carnal  love  to  an  object  worthy  of 
the  highest  and  noblest  offering  the  heart  of  man  can 
give.  It  was  then  that  Augustine  exclaimed:  "0 
Beauty  ever  ancient,  O  Beauty  ever  new!     Too  late 


Army  and  the  Boy  Scout  movement.  These  examples  are  good  so 
far  as  they  go;  but  to  the  Christian  spirit  they  are  very  pathetic, 
because  they  are  not  so  much  better.  They  illustrate,  too,  the  sad 
limitations  to  which  the  religious  spirit  is  subjected  in  a  "public 
school"  atmosphere,  and  the  weakness  in  the  motivation  of  con- 
duct which  is  therefore  inevitable. 

*The  Imitation  gives  this  pertinent  suggestion  (Bk.  I,  Chap. 
XXV,  5) :  "Turn  all  occasions  to  thy  spiritual  profit,  so  that  if 
thou  seest  or  hearest  any  good  examples,  thou  mayest  be  spurred 
on  to  imitate  them.  But  if  thou  observe  anything  that  is  blame- 
worthy, take  heed  thou  commit  not  the  same:  or  if  thou  at  any 
time  hast  done  it,  labor  to  amend  it  out  of  hand." 


Habit.  271 

have  I  known  Thee ;  too  late  have  I  loved  Thee !"  ^ 
Then,  too,  he  gave  expression  to  his  characteristic  "in- 
tegration" of  the  law  of  charity:  "Love  God,  and  do 
what  you  please."  ^ 

These,  then,  are  the  three  ways  in  which  instinct  may 
be  yoked  to  habit  and  made  to  carry  man  to  the  higher 
levels  of  human  life:  (1)  change  the  instinctive  feeling, 
(2)  change  the  instinctive  response;  (8)  change  the  ob- 
ject— provide  another  and  better  object  for  both  feel- 
ing and  response.  When  studied  from  these  three 
viewpoints,  the  great  characters  of  Scripture  and  the 
saints  honored  by  the  Catholic  Church  become  subjects 
of  absorbing  interest  to  the  novice.  Therein  he  will 
find  abundant  food  for  the  sentiments  and  emotions 
that  should  sway  his  own  conduct  and  draw  him  nearer 
to  their  likeness.  In  the  measure  to  which  he  assimi- 
lates the  spirit  by  which  these  great  heroes  of  the 
higher  life  were  animated  will  he  express  in  his  own 
personality  an  excellent  type  of  the  reflex  arc  concept. 
With  an  eye  to  perceive  what  is  worthy  of  imitation  in 
the  leaders  of  men,  he  will  labor  calmly  and  persistently 
to  make  it  his  own  in  thought  and  affection.  Then 
when  the  occasion  calls,  he  will  not  be  remiss  in  con- 
firming the  inner  disposition  with  those  outward  deeds 
which  not  only  express  one's  mind  but  impart  to  it  new 
insight  and  power.^ 

^Bk.  VIII,  Chap.  V,  Bk.  X,  Chap.  XXVII. 

'  T.  W.  Allies,  Formation  of  Christendom,  Vol.  I,  pp.  175-216, 
makes  an  interesting  contrast  between  the  pagan  and  the  Chris- 
tian spirit  and  ideals  as  typified  respectively  by  Cicero  and  St. 
Augustine. 

'  Cf.  G.  H.  Betts,  Mind  and  Its  Education,  p.  250. 


272  Psychological  Aspects  of  Faith, 

It  is  in  this  connection  that  Professor  J.  M.  Bald- 
win's principle  of  "imitation"  may  be  used  with  great 
profit/  He  maintains  that  to  perform  any  action,  to 
make  any  movement,  we  must  have  a  mental  picture,  no 
matter  how  crude  it  may  be,  of  the  action  to  be  done, 
of  the  movement  to  be  made ;  otherwise,  "we  cannot  suc- 
ceed in  making  it."  In  the  language  of  scholastic  phi- 
losophy, we  need  an  exemplar  cause,  an  ideal  model.  It 
is  chiefly  by  imitation  that  young  animals  and  young 
children  learn.  They  have,  indeed,  an  instinctive  gen- 
eral tendency  to  imitate,  which,  in  the  case  of  children, 
replaces  or  supplements  many  special  instincts.  Be- 
cause of  its  general  character,  this  tendency  demands 
of  them  a  corresponding  degree  of  plasticity,  in  virtue 
of  which  they  can  respond  suitably  to  changes  in  their 
environment.  But  it  is  only  by  "persistent  imitation," 
by  the  application  of  the  "try-try-again"  method,  that 
they  gradually  eliminate  useless,  wasteful,  and  uncouth 
movements.^  Moreover,  persistent  imitation  has  a 
much  deeper  significance  than  Professor  Baldwin  seems 
to  imply.  This  is  the  value  of  expression  as  an  agency 
in  mental,  moral,  and  religious  development.  As  we 
have  already  implied  in  speaking  of  perception,  it 
affects  even  our  way  of  looking  at  things.  "In  the  act 
of  expression  the  cognition  itself  is  lifted  into  the  life 


^  Cf.  Story  of  the  Mind,  pp.  20,  28,  29,  39. 

^  Even  these  uncouth  movements,  when  "massive  and  diffused" 
are  of  direct  use;  for  "They  increase  remarkably  the  chances  that 
among  them  all  there  will  be  some  movements  which  will  hit  the 
mark,  and  so  contribute  to  his  stock  of  correct  equivalents." 
(P.  39.) 


Habit.  273 

of  the  mind  and  rendered  functional  in  the  subsequent 
mental  development.'^  ^  It  is  because  of  just  this  fact 
that  persistent  imitation  under  conscious  control  does 
produce  skill,  does  excite  interest,  and  does  fix  habit. 
Even  in  the  supernatural  order  it  is  true  that  faith  is 
dead  unless  it  be  given  expression  in  works. ^ 

Two  other  aspects  of  habit  deserve  notice,  both  of 
which  illustrate  the  general  meaning  of  Weber's  law 
that  "equal  increments  of  sensation  result  from  rela- 
tively equal  increments  of  the  stimulus."  ^  Hence  we 
must  not  expect  to  be  aware  constantly  of  the  progress 
that  we  are  really  making  in  the  formation  of  a  habit. 
It  is  only  the  more  notable  stages  of  advance  that  we 
can  perceive.  The  moral  is  obvious.  Far  from  being 
discouraged  when  we  fail  to  note  any  progress,  we  must 
persevere  in  the  regular  performance  of  the  acts  by 
which  the  habit  is  formed.  Each  act  is  a  true  stimulus 
and  each,  taken  with  the  acts  that  precede  it  and  those 
that  follow  it,  contributes  its  influence  to  produce  the 
total  effect.  Each  is  a  factor  in  the  summation  of 
the  stimuli.  The  converse  is  also  true,  viz.,  that  negli- 
gence as  to  the  necessary  acts,  whether  in  their  regu- 

^  Dr.  Shields,  Psychology  of  Education,  Less.  XX,  "Expression," 
p.  266. 

^Cf.  James  ii,  17. 

'  G.  T.  Fechner  sought  to  give  this  law  further  definition  in  the 
form:  "As  sensation  increases  in  arithmetical  ratio,  the  stimulus 
increases  in  geometrical  ratio."  For  the  limitations  of  both  laws, 
see  Baldwin's  Dictionary  of  Philosophy  and  Psychology.  For 
other  illustrations  of  E.  H.  Weber's  law,  see  Titchener,  Begin- 
ner's Psychology,  pp.  68,  69;  Text-hook,  pp.  219-223;  W.  Wundt 
(tr.  J.  E.  Creighton  and  E.  B.  Titchener),  Lectures  on  Human  and 
Animal  Psychology,  Lecture  II. 


274  Psychological  Aspects  of  Faith, 

larity,  their  frequency,  or  their  intensity,  has  already 
been  undermining  the  habit  for  some  time  before  we 
notice  the  deterioration.  Hence  Professor  Titchener 
formulates  the  principle  in  this  wise:  "The  less  you 
have  of  anything,  the  less  need  be  added,  and  the  more 
you  have,  the  more  must  be  added,  to  make  an  appre- 
ciable difference;  or,  on  the  negative  side,  .  .  .  you 
are  not  likely  to  notice  any  difference  in  your  surround- 
ings, so  long  as  the  relations  of  the  stimuli  remain 
unchanged."  ^ 

The  summation  of  stimuli  may  also  have  a  social 
bearing.  It  is  a  matter  of  common  knowledge  that 
one's  character  is  influenced  by  the  company  which  one 
keeps.  When  his  associates  are  numerous  and  upright, 
one's  own  nature  responds  through  its  nobler  traits  to 
the  cumulus  of  stimuli  coming  from  the  whole  gather- 
ing. The  same  principle  explains  in  part  why,  on  the 
other  hand,  it  is  the  baser  elements  of  one's  person- 
ality that  reveal  themselves  when  one  is  but  a  unit  in 
a  crowd  or  a  mob. 

What  has  been  said  of  habit  in  general  applies  also 
to  the  infused  virtues  which  are  received  at  baptism 
and  which  are  called  supernatural  habits  by  the  Church. 
They  differ  from  other  habits  in  that  they  are  merely 
powers  and,  of  themselves,  do  not  connote  any  facility 
for  the  function  for  which  they  are  bestowed.  This 
facility  is,  however,  developed  by  systematic  repetition 
of  the  necessary  acts ;  that  is,  by  correspondence  to 
divine  grace. 


^  Begvimer'8  Psychology,  p.  69. 


Summary.  275 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  reflex  arc  concept 
applies  to  the  whole  region  of  habit.  For  the  matter 
of  the  habit  comes  directlj'^  or  indirectly  as  a  sugges- 
tion from  either  one's  physical  or  one's  social  environ- 
ment. This  is  the  sensory  or  cognitive  element.  The 
building  of  the  habit  represents  the  central  stage,  that 
of  integration.  The  motor  element  is  found  not  so 
much  in  the  act  that  flows  from  the  habit,  as  in  the 
facility  to  perform  the  act,  the  attitude,  or  "set"  of 
both  mind  and  organism. 

Article   V, — Summary. 

Psychology,  as  the  science  of  mental  processes,  con- 
notes the  subject  from  which  the  processes  arise^  the 
agent  that  produces  the  actions.  The  processes  may 
be  conveniently  reduced  to  the  three  classes  of  cogni- 
tions, feelings,  and  appetitions  or  conations.  All  three 
are  elements  in  perception  as  exercised  by  the  indi- 
vidual after  he  has  come  to  the  use  of  reason.  Percep- 
tion may  therefore  be  considered  as  typical  of  man  as 
man.  By  it  he  attains  some  direct  knowledge  of  the 
external  world  as  well  as  of  himself.  Christian  faith 
supposes  the  reliability  of  both  senses  and  intellect 
under  normal  conditions,  for  "faith  cometh  by  hear- 
ing," and  the  message  has  to  be  interpreted  by  a  duly 
authorized  teacher. 

The  reflex  arc  concept  may  be  applied  in  a  manner 
entirely  consistent  with  Catholic  philosophy  and  the 
tenets  of  the  Church,  not  only  to  sense-perception,  but 
also  to  intellection,  to  the  formation  of  the  intellectual 


276  Psychological  Aspects  of  Faith, 

idea.  It  may  be  extended  beyond  the  natural  order  to 
the  supernatural,  since  it  is  by  the  truths  of  the  latter 
that  man  is  to  square  his  life.  It  applies  to  habit  as 
well  as  to  the  acts  by  which  the  habit  is  formed ;  for  all 
habit  has  at  least  a  remote  sensory  basis,  it  must  be- 
come a  second  nature,  and  it  must  include  the  attitude 
of  readiness  to  act.  A  habit  is  consequently  a  state. 
The  Christian  character  is  marked  by  certain  intellec- 
tual and  moral  habits;  that  is,  by  virtues.  These  are 
expressed  outwardly  in  the  Christian  life.  "For,  with 
the  heart  we  believe  unto  justice;  but,  with  the  mouth, 
confession  is  made  unto  salvation."  ^  These  acts  of 
virtue  in  turn  react  upon  the  mind,  defining  more 
clearly  its  perception  of  what  the  habit  really  means. 
In  this  way  it  happens  that  impression  and  expression, 
becoming  by  turns  cause  and  effect,  set  up  that  "cir- 
cular process,"  which,  according  to  Professor  Bald- 
win's view,^  characterizes  persistent  imitation.  The 
greater  the  perfection  and  fervor  with  which  these  acts 
are  performed,  the  more  effective  is  the  circular  process. 


^Rom.  X,  10. 

*He  says  (Mental  Development^  pp.  24,  25):  "The  self-repeat- 
ing or  circular  type  of  reaction,  to  which  the  name  imitation  is 
given,  ...  is  seen  to  be  fundamental  and  to  remain  the  same, 
as  far  as  structure  is  concerned  [?],  for  all  motor  activity  what- 
ever: the  only  difference  between  higher  and  lower  function  being, 
that,  in  the  higher,  certain  accumulated  adaptations  have  in  time 
so  come  to  overlie  the  original  reaction,  that  the  conscious  state 
which  accompanies  it  seems  to  differ  per  se  from  the  crude  imi- 
tative consciousness  in  which  it  had  its  beginning." — This  is  not 
quite  accurate.  Man  is  a  unit,  constituted  such  by  his  soul.  His 
acts  of  sensitive  consciousness  and  sense-perception  first  prepare 
for  and  then  accompany  his  intellectual  acts,  but  the  latter  are 
not  developed  out  of  the  former. 


Summary,  277 

Moreover,  it  is  constantly  adding  to  its  strength  by 
means  of  the  new  material  which,  in  the  form  of  sug- 
gestions,^ the  mind  is  ever  gathering  from  the  example 
of  others.^ 

In  the  development  of  the  Christian  character,  and 
therefore  in  the  formation  of  the  typical  novice,  habit 
has  a  role  of  surpassing  importance.  It  must  trans- 
form instinctive  behavior,  and  make  it  the  servant  or 
the  ally  not  only  of  right  reason  and  ethical  conduct, 
but  of  a  life  conformed  to  Christian  and  religious 
standards.  In  the  accomplishment  of  this  task  there 
are  three  successive  stages  of  perfection  to  be  attained 
according  as  the  essence  of  the  new  habit  is  concerned 
with  the  substitution  of  a  new  feeling  for  the  old  in- 
stinctive attitude,  or  a  new  response,  or  a  new  object 
for  both  feeling  and  response.  After  the  example  of 
his  divine  Master,  the  novice  must  be  ready  to  say: 
Behold,  I  make  all  things  new.^  As  in  the  reflex  arc, 
the  first  element  is  the  sensory  impression,  which  is  also 
the  indispensable  condition  of  the  other  two  elements, 
so  in  the  acquisition  of  Christian  virtue,  the  first  requi- 
site is  a  knowledge  of  the  truths  of  faith.     How  the 

*  Professor  Baldwin,  defines  "suggestion"  {Mental  DevelopTnent, 
pp.  106,  106)  as  "the  tendency  of  a  sensory  or  an  ideal  state  to 
be  followed  by  a  motor  state."  Elsewhere  (Feeling  and  Will,  p. 
297)  he  says  it  is  "typified  by  the  abrupt  entrance  from  without 
into  consciousness  of  an  idea  or  image,  or  a  vaguely  conscious 
stimulation,  which  tends  to  bring  about  the  muscular  or  volitional 
effects  which  ordinarily  follow  upon  its  presence." 

^  See  pp.  228  f .,  above,  on  the  "facilitation"  or  "reinforcement"  of 
stimuli.  Cf.  Titchener,  Begirmer's  Psychology,  pp.  106  ff.,  164, 
249  ff. 

'  Apoc.  xxi,  6. 


278  Psychological  Aspects  of  Faith. 

novice  is  trained  to  change  these  truths  from  subjects 
of  mere  study  into  impelling  motives  of  conduct  must 
now  engage  our  attention.  We  must  study  the  very 
process  by  which  he  develops  his  personality  and  be- 
comes a  power  for  social  betterment.  Obviously  the 
topic  is  not  without  interest  to  all  those  who  either  are 
or  who  hope  to  become  worthy  teachers  of  youth.  Not 
so  obviously,  but  none  the  less  truly,  does  it  likewise 
concern  all  those  to  whom  the  brotherhood  of  man  is 
not  a  mere  figment  of  the  mind,  but  a  fundamental 
reality  of  life. 


BOOK  IV, 
MEDITATION. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


The  Psychology  of  Meditation. 


Article  I. — The  Nature  and  Matter  of  Meditation, 

Meditation  is  a  form  of  prayer  in  which  the  human 
soul  cleaves  to  God  with  all  its  powers,  organic  and 
spiritual.^  It  is  an  oblation  to  God  not  only  of  mind 
and  heart  and  will,  but  also  of  the  powers  by  which  the 
matter  for  cognition,  affection,  and  resolution  is  sup- 
plied and  conserved.  Even  the  forces  that  guide  and 
strengthen  the  necessary  functions  of  mere  organic  life 
must  contribute  their  share  to  make  the  offering  com- 
plete; since,  as  Father  Faber  reminds  us,  "spiritual 
strength  is  very  needful  for  praying  well."  ^  We  have 
said  that  perception  is  a  process  peculiar  to  man  as 
man.  We  must  now  add  that  mental  prayer  in  some 
form  is  a  work  proper  to  man  as  a  rational  creature. 
If  he  be  also  a  Christian,  then  he  is  doubly  bound  to 
apply  himself  to  meditation;  for  he  has  been  taught 
the  great  truths  of  which  the  Catholic  Church  is  the 

*  Cf.  St.  John  Baptist  de  la  Salle,  Explanation  of  the  Method 
of  Mental  Prayer,  pp.  1,  2.  Father  Faber  says:  "Mental  prayer 
means  the  occupation  of  our  faculties  upon  God,  not  in  the  way 
of  thinking  or  speculating  about  Him,  but  stirring  up  the  will  to 
conform  itself  to  Him  and  the  affections  to  love  Him."  Growth 
in  Holiness,  pp.  245,  246. 

■  Growth  in  Holiness,  p.  243. 

28X 


282  The  Psychology  of  Meditation, 

custodian,  and  through  prayer,  which  is  of  divine  ordi- 
nance, and  through  the  sacraments,  which  are  of  divine 
institution,  he  receives  special  help  from  on  high  not 
only  to  know  the  truth  more  perfectly,  but  also  to  love 
it  more  ardently,  and  practise  it  more  faithfully/  In 
his  life  as  Christian,  therefore,  he  is  daily,  nay  hourly, 
called  upon  to  exercise  the  functions  that  mark  the 
three  great  divisions  of  psychology  as  the  empirical 
study  of  the  mind.^  If  he  be  not  only  a  Christian,  but 
also  a  novice  preparing  to  assume  the  obligations  and 
to  practise  the  virtues  of  the  professed  religious,  then 
meditation  is  absolutely  indispensable  to  him;  for  he 
must  live  in  a  Christian  atmosphere,  he  must  habitually 
look  at  the  circumstances  of  his  life,  the  situations  in 
which  he  is  placed,  from  a  Christian  viewpoint,  he 
must  set  his  affections  upon  those  things  that  are  dear 
to  the  heart  of  Christ.  Only  thus  will  he  be  disposed 
to  follow  the  example  of  his  divine  Master.  Moreover, 
each  generous  endeavor  to  walk  in  the  footsteps  of  his 
Saviour  will  give  him  new  insight  into  His  teachings 
and  move  him  to  greater  loyalty  ^  in  His  service.     In 


*  Cf.  Father  Faber  (op.  cit.,  p.  245) :  "The  most  serious  business 
of  the  interior  life  is  mental  prayer.  .  .  .  Spiritual  writers, 
and  even  saints,  have  sometimes  spoken  as  if  meditation  were  al- 
most necessary  to  salvation.  ...  It  is,  however,  quite  certain 
that  mental  prayer  is  necessary  to  perfection,  and  that  there  can 
be  nothing  like  a  spiritual  life  without  it." 

^  Cf .  C.  A.  Dubray,  S.  M.,  Introductory  Philosophy,  p.  22. 

®  Cf.  Imitation  (Bk.  I,  Chap.  I,  2)  :  "He  who  would  fully  and 
feelingly  understand  the  words  of  Christ  must  study  to  make  his 
whole  life  conformable  to  that  of  Christ."  Modern  psychology 
confirms  this  admonition  of  St.  John  Baptist  de  la  Salle  {Collec- 
tioTfi,  p.  182) :  "Do  not  be  so  much  concerned  about  knowing  how 


The  Nature  and  Matter  of  Meditation,       283 

other  words,  constant  striving  to  approach  the  Chris- 
tian ideal  sets  up  a  process  of  persistent  imitation,  and 
keeps  one  in  the  "way  of  perfection."  It  is  precisely 
from  this  point  of  view  that  meditation  is  of  such  trans- 
cendant  importance.  It  not  only  conserves  the  habitual 
dispositions  that  mark  the  Christian  life,  but  it  makes 
them  the  basis  for  new  "accommodations."  In  the 
words  of  St.  Francis  de  Sales,  one  of  the  doctors  of  the 
Church : 

"Reflection  on  different  subjects,  for  the  purpose  of  discover- 
ing their  nature,  their  causes,  effects,  and  properties,  is  called 
study.  Our  minds  then  resemble  young  bees,  which  being  yet  un- 
able to  make  honey,  rest  indiscriminately  upon  flowers  and  leaves 
to  feed  on  them.  When  we  reflect  on  divine  truths,  not  precisely 
to  acquire  a  knowledge  of  them,  but  to  draw  holy  affections  from 
them,  we  meditate.  In  this  exercise  of  meditation  our  mind  .  .  . 
imitates  the  bees  which  labor  in  making  honey,  by  reflecting  on 
divine  truths  and  mysteries,  to  extract  the  sweetness  of  divine 
love  from  them.  .  .  .  We  may  then  define  this  exercise  of  mind 
to  be  a  thought  continued  and  maintained  with  a  voluntary  atten- 
tion for  the  purpose  of  exciting  the  heart  to  produce  holy  affections 
and  form  salutary  resolutions."  ^ 

Meditation  is  therefore  an  exercise  which  is  of  in- 
terest to  the  ps3^chologist,  since  it  employs  all  three  of 
the  kinds  of  process  which  it  is  his  business  to  study: 
viz.,  cognition,  feeling,  conation — thought,  affection, 
and  deed.  It  is  of  interest  to  the  behaviorist  also;  for 
the  chief  purpose  of  the  thought  in  which  the  mind  is 
then  engaged  is   to   excite   the  feelings   and  emotions, 

to  do  things  perfectly  as  about  doing  them  as  perfectly  as  you 
know  how;  for,  by  doing  them  as  well  as  you  know  how,  you  de- 
serve to  learn  and  to  know  that  which  you  do  not  yet  know." 
^A  Treatise  on  the  Love  of  Ood  (O'Shea's  ed.),  pp.  260,  261. 


^84  The  Psychology  of  Meditation. 

especially  an  ardent  desire  to  acquire  the  special  good 
which  one  needs  most  and  to  shun  the  special  evil  into 
which  one  is  most  exposed,  or  disposed,  to  fall.  This 
desire  is  the  great  moving  force  in  effecting  the  fer- 
vent amendment  of  one's  life/  In  the  words  of  Professor 
Angell,  already  quoted:  "What  we  really  desire  is  the 
best  possible  index  of  the  sort  of  character  one  really 
possesses."  ^  Meditation  has  at  least  one  line  of  con- 
nection with  the  work  of  the  experimental  psycholo- 
gist; for  it  is  pre-eminently  a  reaction  experiment.^ 
Finally,  it  is  a  practice  whose  value  the  sociologist 
cannot  afford  to  ignore,  since  it  is  one  of  the  principal 
means  by  which  the  Christian  spirit  is  fostered  and 
strengthened  in  the  individual.  It  is  therefore  one  of 
the  chief  sources  of  peaceful  social  intercourse,  one  of 
the  strong  supports  of  all  co-operation  that  aims  at  the 
highest  good  of  the  race.* 

We  have  just  asserted  that  meditation  is  a  reaction 
experiment,  and  such  it  really  is.  For  it  is  a  series  of 
movements  made  in  response  to  an  external  stimulus. "^ 
The  stimulus  is  divine  grace,  the  intimate  touch  of  the 
very  spirit  of  God  Himself.  The  movements  are  the 
thoughts,  the  affections,  and  the  resolutions  freely  and 
fervently  made  under  the  impulse  of  this  grace.     Like 

^The  Imitation  (Bk.  I,  Chap.  XXV,  6)  emphasizes  the  impor- 
tance of  the  resolution  taken  by  the  religious. 

^Psychology,  p.  433. 

'  Cf.  above,  pp.  216,  note  3,  and  268,  note  1. 

*  For  aspects  of  meditation  that  concern  the  teacher,  see  above, 
pp.  56-58  and  below,  Art.  Ill,  p.  300. 

« Cf.  Titchener,  Text-hook,  p.  428. 


The  Nature  and  Matter  of  Meditation.       285 

all  reaction  experiments,  it  demands  careful  prepara- 
tion on  the  part  of  the  reactor  to  dispose  him  to  react 
properly/  This  preparation  is  both  external  and  in- 
ternal. Externally  it  consists,  first,  in  the  removal  of 
distracting  stimuli  or  in  withdrawal  from  their  influ- 
ence. This  is  the  negative  phase.  Under  this  head 
also  belong  both  silence  ^  and  solitude,  whether  actual 
or  virtual.  In  the  practice  of  both  these  means  the 
"Fathers  of  the  Desert"  have  been  the  great  exemplars 
for  all  succeeding  ages  of  religious.  External  prepa- 
ration likewise  includes,  as  a  corollary  of  silence  and 
solitude,  the  shunning  of  all  distracting  occupations 
that  are  not  dictated  by  duty  or  intelligent  charity. 
On  the  other  hand,  external  preparation  has  a  positive 
phase,  which  consists  in  attention  to  the  holy  presence 
of  God.  For  in  prayer  the  soul  holds  converse  with  its 
Maker.     This   attention  is  voluntary   and  deliberate.^ 


^  On  the  history  and  technique  of  the  reaction  experiment,  cf. 
Titchener,  Experimental  Psychology,  II,  i  (1905),  pp.  141  ff;  ii,  pp. 
326  ff.,  356  ff.;  in  briefer  outline.  Beginner's  Psychology,  pp.  236- 
242. 

*  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  "silence"  retains  its  Latin  significa- 
tion of  refraining  from  unnecessary  noise,  as  contrasted  with 
taciturnity  or  the  mere  refraining  from  speech. 

'See  above,  pp.  54,  214,  n.  4,  238,  256,  n.  1.  According  to 
Titchener  (Text-book,  pp.  271-273),  primary  or  passive  or  in- 
voluntary attention  is  rooted  in  biological  conditions.  Stimulated 
as  it  is  by  novelty  and  suddenness  and  movement,  "these  have  a 
special  biological  meaning,  for  the  new  and  the  sudden  and  the 
moving  are  probable  sources  of  danger,  and  the  creature  that 
failed  to  attend  to  them  would  soon  have  ceased  to  exist."  On 
the  other  hand,  "secondary  attention  is  a  consequence  of  a  com- 
plicated nervous  organization,"  capable  of  being  acted  on  by  two 
or  more  stimuli  at  the  same  time.  .  .  .  "There  is  yet  a  third 
stage  in  the  development  of  attention;  and  this  consists  in  nothing 


286  The  Psychology  of  Meditation, 

When  the  novice  makes  regular  and  frequent  and  fer- 
vent acts  of  attention  (all  three  qualities  are  requisite)^ 
he  lays  the  foundations  for  a  habit  of  attention.  The 
habit  may  even  start  from  ejaculatory  prayer  made  at 
short  intervals  if  the  words  be  said  slowly  and  feelingly. 
From  this  humble  and  semi-vocal  beginning  may  be  de- 
veloped that  interest  and  absorption  in  divine  things 
which  marks  the  third  and  crowning  stage  in  the  de- 
velopment of  attention.^  Thus  the  "habit"  of  ejacu- 
latory prayer  becomes  the  basis  for  "accommodation" 
to  a  higher  level  of  prayer,  whose  special  characteristic 
is  "derived  primary"  attention  to  the  things  of  God. 
When  this  is  supplemented  by  that  form  of  "selective 
attention"  which  habitually  seeks  out  the  Christian 
aspects  of  environment,  both  physical  and  social,  it  be- 
comes the  "spirit  of  faith,"  the  distinguishing  trait  of 
the  deeply  Christian  life.  "The  just  man  liveth  by 
faith."  ^     Since  this  spirit  of  faith  is  the  very  soul  of 


else  than  a  relapse  into  primary  attention"  (due  to  increasing 
interest  and  absorption  in  the  work).  Difficulties  gradually  dis- 
appear and  distraction  dies  away.  "There  could  hardly  be  a 
stronger  proof  of  the  growth  of  secondary  out  of  primary  atten- 
tion than  this  fact,  of  everyday  experience,  that  secondary  at- 
tention is  continually  reverting  to  the  primary  form."  Hence  he 
calls  the  third  stage  "derived  primary"  attention.  Cf.  Beginner's 
Psychology,  Chap.  IV. 

^  See  p.  267,  above,  for  a  brief  statement  of  Professor  Baldwin's 
principle  of  "accommodation"  as  a  factor  in  improvement  upon 
*Tiabit." 

^  Here  too  the  laws  of  habit  building  and  the  methods  of  acquir- 
ing habits  that  modify  instinctive  action  (in  this  case,  instinctive, 
or  passive,  attention)  are  to  be  applied.  See  above,  pp.  250-255, 
260-271. 

» Heb.  X,  38. 


The  Nature  and  Matter  of  Meditation.       287 

the  religious  vocation,  it  must  find  expression.  This 
it  does,  according  to  St.  John  Baptist  de  la  Salle,  in 
three  distinct  ways,  the  first  of  which  has  to  do  with 
the  environment  of  the  Christian  and  religious,  while 
the  other  two  have  to  do  with  his  experience  either  as 
an  agent,  or  as  affected  by  the  action  of  other  agents — 
i,  e.,  they  apply  to  his  active  or  to  his  passive  experi- 
ence." Now  the  exercise  of  the  spirit  of  faith  indicates 
a  high  degree  of  internal  preparation  for  the  making 
of  mental  prayer.  It  thus  appears  that  careful  atten- 
tion to  the  requisites  of  external,  or  objective,  prepa- 
ration will  lead  insensibly  to  the  realization  of  the  in- 
ternal, or  subjective,  conditions  of  meditation. 

But  this  result  cannot  be  accomplished  without  inhi-  . 
bition,  without  the  exercise  of  that  "activity  of  the 
higher  centers  in  the  nervous  system  that  checks,  re- 
presses, and  holds  in  control  some  of  the  activities  of 
the  lower  centers."  ^  In  the  spiritual  life  this  inhibition 
is  known  as  mortification,  and  comprises  more  particu- 
larly mortification  of  the  senses  and  of  the  intellect.  It 
consists  essentially  in  the  cutting  off,  first,  of  such 
gratifications  of  sense  and  of  intellect  as  injure  the 
spiritual  life  and  put  obstacles  in  the  way  of  medita- 
tion ;  and  then,  of  such  as  substitute  a  lower  good,  from 
the  viewpoint  of  faith,  for  a  higher  one.^     "If  any  man 

*  There  are  three  "effects  which  the  spirit  of  faith  produces  in 
those  possessing  it":  "first,  to  regard  everything  with  the  eyes  of 
faith;  second,  to  do  nothing  but  with  a  view  to  God;  third,  to  at- 
tribute aU  to  God."    Collection,  p.  53,  ed.  1890. 

2  Colvin  and  Bagley,  Human  Behavior,  p.  124. 

'  For  analogy,  cf.  Angell,  Psychology,  p.  69,  "Inhibition  of  Use- 
less Movements." 


288  The  Psychology  of  Meditation, 

will  come  after  Me,"  says  Christ,  "let  him  deny  him- 
self." ^ 

There  is  still  another  requisite  which  must  be  in- 
cluded as  part  of  the  remote  and  habitual  preparation 
for  meditation.  It  is  humility.  For  it  is  in  and 
through  meditation  that  the  soul  really  "learns"  the 
great  truths  of  religion.  In  the  lower  forms  of  organic 
life  plasticity  is  a  correlate  of  environmental  influence. 
In  the  pupil  this  disposition  to  be  guided  and  in- 
structed by  the  teacher  is  known  as  docility,  the  quality 
of  "teachableness."  In  the  Christian  it  is  the  virtue 
of  humility,  the  great  lesson  which  his  divine  Teacher 
formally  enjoins  upon  him  as  Christian.^  If  we  ac- 
cept St.  Teresa's  definition  of  humility  as  "truth," 
and  consider  in  the  light  of  that  truth  the  absolute  de- 
pendence of  the  creature  on  the  Creator,  then  we  may 
see  that  this  attitude  is  akin  to  the  sincerity,  the  hon- 
esty which  should  actuate  every  scientist  in  his  observa- 
tions and  experiments. 

Three  things,  then,  are  essential  constituents  of  the 
remote  preparation  for  mental  prayer:  1,  the  removal 
of  distracting  stimuli  or  withdrawal  from  their  influ- 
ence (this  is  what  ascetic  writers  call  "detachment  from 
creatures")  ;  2,  application  to  the  presence  of  God 
(mortification,  or  self -discipline,  is  an  indispensable 
means  to  attain  both  these  results)  ;  and  3,  humility, 
the  one  quality  that  specially  befits  the  intelligent 
creature  as  such  when  in  presence  of  its  Creator — the 


^Matt.  xvi,  24. 
2  Matt,  xi,  29. 


The  Nature  and  Matter  of  Meditation.       289 

virtue  ignored  and  desecrated  in  their  fall  by  both 
Lucifer  and  Adam,^  the  correlate  in  the  supernatural 
order  of  plasticity  in  the  order  of  nature.  "For  God 
resisteth  the  proud,  but  to  the  humble  he  giveth 
grace."  ^ 

Besides  the  remote  preparation  for  meditation, — a 
preparation  that  is  really  a  phase  of  "habit," — there 
is  a  proximate  preparation  by  which  the  novice  "ac- 
commodates" himself  to  the  requirements  of  this  spir- 
itual exercise.  It  consists  in  preparing  over-night  the 
principal  points  of  the  meditation,  in  foreseeing  the 
fruit  to  be  gathered  from  it,  the  obstacles  thereto, 
especially  such  as  may  arise  from  one's  predominant 
fault  or  "ruling  passion,"  and  finally  in  exciting  in  the 
heart  a  fervent  desire  to  profit  to  the  full  from  this 
prayer  on  the  morrow.  This  is  the  first  half  of  the 
proximate  preparation.  It  has  a  value  for  the  novice 
which  he  is  likely  to  overlook  and  which,  nevertheless, 
has   been   conclusively  demonstrated  by   psychological 


*  Although  the  order  is  different,  the  substance  is  the  same  as 
that  given  by  St.  Teresa  {Way  of  Perfection,  tr.  J.  Dalton,  pp. 
23  fP.):  1.  fraternal  charity,  2.  disengagement  from  creatures,  3. 
humility.  "More  admirably  sufficient  means  from  the  psycho- 
logical point  of  view  could  hardly  have  been  devised,"  says  Anna 
Louise  Strong  {The  Psychology  of  Prayer,  pp.  67,  68).  "First, 
create  a  need  for  companionship  by  emphasizing  the  social  nature 
of  self;  second,  deprive  this  need  of  its  usual  satisfaction,  that 
all  the  energy  of  desire  may  go  into  the  outlet  that  is  allowed. 
Third,  determine  the  outlet  which  this  companion-seeking  shall 
take  by  assuming  an  attitude  of  mind  which  could  only  admit  as 
alter  [in  the  Latin  sense  of  the  term]  a  self  great  enough  to  in- 
spire humility." 

« 1  Pet.  V,  6. 


290  The  Fsychology  of  Meditation, 

experiments.  Professor  Titchener  reminds  us  ^  that 
"schoolboys,  with  a  keen  sense  for  economy  of  effort, 
learn  their  lessons  only  partway  overnight,  and  find 
that  a  hasty  review  next  morning  is  enough  to  fix 
them;  the  associative  tendencies  work  while  their  own- 
ers sleep."  But  the  novice  does  not  limit  his  prepara- 
tion to  the  night  before.  He  renews  it  in  the  morning, 
keeping  his  mind  intent  upon  it  until  the  time  for 
prayer  has  come.  This  is  the  second  half  of  the  proxi- 
mate preparation.  He  thereby  secures  for  himself  all 
the  associative  benefit  which  the  schoolboy  derives  from 
his  method  of  study  and  in  addition  such  an  increase 
in  the  depth  and  the  number  of  associations  as  is  guar- 
anteed to  him  by  his  greater  interest  and  higher  pur- 
pose in  meditation.^ 

To  these  two  preparations  which  stimulate  so  pow- 
erfully the  "habit"  of  Christian  faith,  St.  de  la  Salle 
added  for  his  Brothers  a  third,  or  immediate,  prepara- 
tion, which,  as  its  name  indicates,  so  directly  precedes 
the  mental  prayer  as  to  be  virtually  an  integral  part 
of  it.  He  was  moved  to  do  this  both  from  his  own  ex- 
perience of  the  difficulties  and  distractions  that  beset 
the  teacher's  life,  and  from  his  careful  study  of  the 


^Beginner's  Psychology,  p.  158;  cf.  Text-hook,  p.  387.  Both 
texts  discuss  the  results  of  experiments  in  "association." 

^Father  Faber  says  that  what  we  have  called  the  "proximate" 
preparation  is  "concerned  with  three  times,  the  time  when  the  sub- 
ject of  prayer  is  given  overnight,  the  time  which  elapses  between 
then  and  the  waking  in  the  morning,  and  the  third  is  from  our 
waking  to  our  beginning  of  our  prayer.  The  first  requires  atten- 
tion; the  second  a  review  of  the  subject  and  a  strict  silence;  and 
the  third  the  affections  of  love  and  joy  wherewith  we  should  ap- 
proach prayer"  (op.  cit,  p.  267). 


Constituent  Elements  of  Meditation,  2591 

results  attained  by  the  first  Brothers.  This  prepara- 
tion he  divided  into  three  groups  of  three  acts  each: 
the  first  group,  referring  to  God  and  exercising  the 
spirit  of  faith;  the  second  group,  concerning  the  re- 
ligious and  disposing  him  to  greater  humility;  the  last 
group,  relating  to  our  Lord,  and  tending  to  inspire 
confidence  in  His  merits/  These  acts  are  therefore  a 
kind  of  intensive  epitome  of  the  dispositions  that  are 
requisite  for  the  remote  preparation. 

Article  11. — Constituent  Elements  of  Meditation, 

Father  Faber  assures  us  that,^  "there  can  be  nothing 
like  a  spiritual  life"  without  mental  prayer.  The  no- 
vitiate is  the  training  school  for  a  special  form  of  the 
spiritual  life.  The  novitiate  must  therefore  aim  to 
make  the  aspirants  for  the  religious  life  proficient  in 
mental  prayer.  In  view  thereof  it  teaches  the  novice 
that  prayer,  and  in  particular,  meditation,  is  a  sacra- 
mental ;  that,  after  the  analogy  of  the  sacraments,  it 
consists  of  matter  and  form,  or  ''body"  and  "soul"; 
that  the  remote  matter  of  mental  prayer  consists  in 
cognitions,  feelings,  conations,  the  general  subject- 
matter  of  psychology;  that  the  proximate  matter  con- 
sists of  such  thoughts,  affections  and  resolutions  as 
refer  to  a  given  mystery  of  religion,  or  to  a  Christian 
and  religious  virtue,  or  to  a  Gospel  maxim.       These 

^  The  first  ^roup  includes  acts  of  faith,  adoration  and  thanks- 
giving; the  second,  acts  of  humility,  confusion  and  contrition;  the 
third,  acts  applying  Christ's  merits,  seeking  union  with  Him  and 
invoking  His  Spirit.     (Collection^  pp.  24-27.) 

^  Growth  in  Holiness,  p.  246. 


^9S  The  Psychology  of  Meditation, 

thoughts,  affections,  and  resolutions  possess  a  kind  of 
unity  arising  in  part  from  the  subject  of  meditation 
itself  around  which  they  cluster ;  in  part  also  from  their 
psychological  relationship,  since  the  resolution  is 
prompted  by  the  affections,^  and  these  in  turn  spring 
from  reflection  on  the  mystery,  or  virtue,  or  maxim. 
The  absolutely  indispensable  unifying  principle,  how- 
ever, is  the  form  or  "soul"  of  the  meditation,  viz.,  the 
Spirit  of  God,  who  is  invoked  at  the  close  of  the  im- 
mediate preparation.^ 

^  Motives  are  ideas  that  stir  us  to  desire,  to  resolve,  and  to  act. 
Their  "driving  power"  is  due  not  only  to  their  objective  value,  but 
also,  and  even  to  a  greater  extent,  to  the  dispositions  of  the  agent 
here  and  now.  The  one  great  purpose  of  mental  prayer  is  to  sug- 
gest, reinforce,  and  assure  right  "motivation."  In  this  lies  the 
whole  secret  of  spiritual  progress.  The  subjective  "pull"  or 
"push"  of  the  motive,  from  the  viewpoint  of  the  natural  order, 
will  be  determined  in  part  by  the  personal  equation  of  the  agent 
("habit"),  in  part  by  his  present  disposition — i.  e.,  by  appercep- 
tion ("accommodation").     Cf.  pp.  55  f.,  82,  above. 

^The  method  adopted  by  St.  de  la  Salle  with  a  special  eye  tc 
the  difficulties  and  advantages  of  religious  teachers  is  a  modifica- 
tion of  the  Sulpician  method.  Father  Faber  believes  that  all 
other  methods  may  be  reduced  either  to  this  or  to  the  Ignatian 
method.  {Growth  in  Holiness,  p.  247.  On  the  differences  be- 
tween the  two,  see  pp.  248-262.)  He  holds  that  the  Sulpician 
method  draws  its  inspiration  and  fruitfulness  from  the  older  tra- 
ditions— in  other  words,  from  the  very  traditions  that  St.  Philip 
Neri,  "the  apostle  of  Rome,"  the  founder  of  the  Oratory,  looked 
upon  as  so  vital  a  factor  in  developing  the  Christian  life  in  his 
own  day.  If  the  method  of  mental  prayer  helps  to  form  a  special 
religious  type,  we  should  expect  that  in  the  case  of  the  Jesuits 
and  the  Christian  Brothers,  for  example,  however  closely  their 
pupils  might  be  respectively  graded  in  their  studies,  however  much 
grades  might  be  duplicated,  yet  each  group  would  bear  the  stamp 
of  a  different  Christian  type.  Each  order  makes  a  different 
spiritual  appeal.  "These  two  methods  of  prayer  are  both  of  them 
most  holy,  even  though  they  are  so  different.  There  is  a  different 
spirit  in  them,  and  they  tend  to  form  different  characters.     But 


Constituent  Elements  of  Meditation,  293 

Having  glanced  at  the  constituent  elements  of  men- 
tal prayer,  we  may  now  look  to  the  integral  parts  of 
the  "body"  of  prayer,  since  it  is  only  the  body  that  is 
directly  within  the  control  of  the  novice.  After  the 
analogy  of  the  human  body,  which  we  may  divide  into 
head,  trunk,  and  members,  we  may  distinguish  the 
integral  parts  of  the  meditation  as  the  considerations, 
the  affections,  and  the  resolutions/  It  is  in  the  con- 
siderations that  the  novice  is  especially  called  upon 
to  exercise  attention,  usually  secondary  or  voluntary 
attention.  Here  also  he  utilizes  the  ideas  and  prin- 
ciples which  he  has  drawn  from  his  spiritual  readings, 
from  the  instructions  of  his  superiors,  and  from  the 
example  of  his  companions.  Here,  too,  shines  out  con- 
spicuously the  worth  of  careful  preparation,  for  the 
special  trait  of  attention  is  "clearness."  ^  The  vague, 
the  obscure,  the  indefinite,  cannot  excite  emotion  and 
urge  on  to  action.^  Hence  the  novice  is  counseled  to 
make  the  particular  examen  ^  an  efficacious  means  for 
the  carrying  out  of  the  resolutions  which  he  makes  in 
meditation. 


they  cannot  be  set  one  against  the  other.  They  are  both  from  one 
Spirit,  even  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  each  will  find  the  hearts  to  which 
they  are  sent.  Happy  is  the  man  who  is  a  faithful  disciple  of 
either!"  (Faber,  op.  cit,  p.  262.)  Cf.  Newman,  Sermons  on 
Various  Occasions,  pp.  224,  227,  242. 

^  When  the  subject  is  a  mystery,  one  is  often  helped  by  pictur- 
ing the  scene,  and  even,  after  the  fashion  of  the  great  Catholic 
painters,  by  introducing  oneself  into  the  scene.  A  like  practice 
may  be  followed  for  the  virtues  and  the  maxims,  if  our  Lord  be 
pictured  as  practising  the  virtue  or  teaching  the  maxim. 

2  Cf.  Titchener,  Text-book,  pp.  278  ff.     See  also  above,  p.  56. 

« Cf .  1  Cor.  xiv,  7-9. 

*  See  above,  pp.  50-53. 


294  The  Psychology  of  Meditation, 

The  matter  which  the  novice  utilizes  in  making  the 
"considerations"  in  his  meditation  comes  from  his  own 
experience.  As  we  have  already  seen,  "experience"  is, 
according  to  Professor  Wundt,  the  subject-matter  of 
psychology ;  ^  according  to  Professor  Dewey,  the  de- 
terminant of  both  curriculum  and  method  in  the  school- 
room ;  ^  according  to  many  pragmatists,^  the  basis  of 
truth  and  the  criterion  of  morality.  It  is  well  then  to 
look  more  closely  into  the  characteristic  traits  of  that 
"experience"  which  the  novice  brings  to  his  meditation. 
These  have  been  described  by  the  philosopher,  Leon 
Olle-Laprune  not  only  with  great  "clearness  of  thought 
and  lucidity  of  expression,"  *  but  also  with  a  penetrat- 
ing insight  into  their  relations  to  faith. 

"Everything,"  he  says,  "begins  with  experience,  although  experi- 
ence itself  neither  is  everything  nor  contains  in  itself  the  reason  of 
things.  Everything  begins  with  experience,  because  all  reality  is 
given  to  us  before  we  can  make  it  the  object  of  speculative 
thought,'  and  all  reality  is  given  to  us  just  as  it  is  in  its  inmost  na- 
ture, viz.,  active  and  in  action.  We  are  subject  to  the  action  of  real 
objects,  and,  since  we  are  real  ourselves,  we  act  upon  them.    In  the 


'  See  p.  207. 

^Cf.  Studies  in  Logical  Theory;  also  "Curriculum,"  "Method," 
"Philosophy  of  Education,"  in  Monroe's  Cyclopedia  of  Education. 

» Cf .  W.  James,  The  Meaning  of  Truth. 

*  Father  Driscoll  (op.  cit.,  pp.  247,  248)  insists  that  owing  to 
his  pronounced  lack  of  these  two  qualities  Henri  Bergson  is  not  a 
French  philosopher,  but  only  a  philosopher  who  writes  in  French. 
— Olle-Laprune,  on  the  other  hand,  not  only  had  a  firm  grasp  on 
the  subjects  on  which  he  lectured,  but  he  was  an  exemplary 
Catholic  as  well.  He  has  been  called  "the  greatest  Catholic  lay- 
man who  has  appeared  in  France  since  Ozanam." 

"This  is  but  another  form  of  Aristotle's  dictum,  "There  is 
nothing  in  the  intellect  that  has  not  been  in  some  way  in  the 
senses."     Cf.  p.  119,  above. 


Constituent  Elements  of  Meditation.  295 

one  case  as  in  the  other,  there  is  experience.  To  have  experience 
of  anything  is  to  test  it,  to  receive  its  action,  or  to  feel  some  of 
its  effects.  But  we  also  experience  what  we  do  ourselves.  More- 
over, is  not  the  very  act  of  making  a  trial  of  anything  a  kind  of 
experiment  in  which  we  put  our  powers  to  the  test  and  thereby 
become  intimately  acquainted  with  what  we  really  are?  Experi- 
ence is,  therefore,  the  first  condition  of  every  intellectual  act,  be- 
cause experience  is  the  point  of  contact  where  objects  and  the 
soul  meet.  ...  To  pretend  to  certitude  and  yet  take  no  account 
of  actual  experience  is  equivalent  to  willing  that  man  be  other 
than  he  actually  is.     .     .    . 

"Imagination  is  bound  up  with  experience.  ...  Of  the  soul 
as  a  principle  of  action,  and  of  action  itself  taken  in  its  own  in- 
trinsic nature  ...  no  representation  is  possible;  for  how  can 
we  really  imagine  what  is  simple?  What  we  do  experience  mo- 
mentarily in  ourselves  is  a  multiple  and  diverse  life,  a  series  of 
spiritual  movements,  so  to  say — a  ceaseless  diversity  in  the  very 
continuity  of  existence.  Hence  it  is  that  imagination  is  always 
associated  with  consciousness  and  memory.  Ever  present  to  our- 
selves and,  in  a  sense,  present  also  to  our  past  and  even  to  our 
future,  we,  on  the  one  hand,  recall  what  we  have  experienced  or 
done,  and,  on  the  other,  we  feel  that  we  are  capable  of  enduring 
or  of  producing  a  thousand  like  events.  Thus  it  comes  to  pass 
that  we  continually  have  in  our  minds  a  more  or  less  distinct  image 
of  our  interior  life.  We  are  thus  enabled  to  unite  to  the  concep- 
tion of  truths  that  are  wholly  speculative,  the  living  image  of  our 
personal  experiences.^  On  every  side,  therefore,  we  meet  with 
that  reality  without  which  there  can  be  no  certainty  for  us.     .     .     . 

"Every  truth  of  the  moral  order  is  first  of  all  an  object  of  ex- 
perience, in  the  sense  that  it  is  first  received  in  a  fact  or  event 
that  may  properly  and  expressly  be  called  practice.    .    .    .    Every 


*Cf.  Chaps.  XXI,  XXII,  Comhattimento  Spirituale  (the  Spir- 
itual Combat).  This  excellent  little  book  written  by  the  pious 
Theatine  priest,  Lorenzo  Scupoli,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  was 
for  over  eighteen  years  the  constant  companion  of  St.  Francis  de 
Sales,  who  drew  from  its  pages  the  principles  by  which  he  was 
guided  in  his  direction  of  souls.  The  book,  because  of  its  prac- 
tical character,  forms  an  admirable  complement  to  Thomas  k 
Kempis'  Imitation.  Cf.  Bp.  Camus,  Spirit  of  St.  Francis  de  Sales, 
p.  92, 


^96  The  Psychology  of  Meditation, 

injunction  that  has  the  character  of  obligation  moves  us  and 
solicits  us  to  act.  Our  will  then  either  submits  to  the  command 
or  resists  it.  Were  it  apparently  to  remain  indifferent,  it  would 
even  then  elicit  an  act  of  self-determination,  for  it  would  follow 
a  particular  mode  of  resistance.  Thus  it  is  that  in  every  practical 
event  there  is  an  influence  exercised  upon  us  by  the  irresistible 
power  of  conscience,  and  that  varying  degrees  of  action  are  al- 
ways emanating  from  us  in  response  to  the  appeal  addressed 
to  us."  ^ 

In  the  view  of  St.  de  la  Salle,  the  Sulpician  method 
of  meditation  was  specially  adapted  not  only  to  foster 
the  spirit  of  prayer  in  his  own  Brothers,  but  also 
through  them  to  keep  it  active  in  the  breasts  of  their 
pupils.  It  is,  in  fact,  this  general  plan  that  his  dis- 
ciples follow  not  only  in  teaching  catechism  to  their 
classes,  but  even  in  making  the  morning  reflections  in 
the  schoolroom  on  the  great  truths  of  religion  and  on 
the  Gospel  maxims  of  conduct,  by  which  they  seek  to 
excite  their  pupils  both  to  say  the  beads  well  and  to 
form  practical  resolutions  for  their  conduct  through- 
out the  day.^  ^     It  is  opportune,  then,  to  cite  a  page 

^De  la  Certitude  Morale,  pp.  28-34.  Cf.  H.  Joly,  Psychologie 
des  Saints,  Chaps.  IV,  V. 

^  This  is,  of  course,  an  illustration  of  the  "social"  value  of  medi- 
tation, but  it  has  a  place  here.  Other  illustrations  are  found  in 
the  ever-increasing  number  of  persons  who  flocked  to  the  great 
Christian  solitaries — some  to  beg  prayers  and  receive  advice, 
others  to  be  enrolled  as  disciples. — Should  we  not  look  here  for 
the  source  of  that  loyalty  to  the  Brothers  of  the  Christian  Schools 
that  marks  the  typical  "Brother's  boy,"  and  that  is  summed  up  in 
saying,  "Once  a  Brother's  boy,  always  a  Brother's  boy"? 

^  That  the  catechism  lesson  and  the  class  "reflection"  are  ex- 
amples of  applied  meditation  will  be  evident  to  any  one  who 
reads  attentively  even  the  Table  of  Contents  of  the  Catechist's 
Manual.  In  nearly  every  chapter  he  will  find  abundant  confirma- 
tion of  this  fact.    See  also  the  "Model  Catechisms,"  pp.  201-237. 


Constituent  Elements  of  Meditation.  397 

from  Father  Faber  ^  on  the  "body"  of  this  form  of 
prayer,  in  which  the  novice  utilizes  so  many  psychic 
"processes,"  and  by  which  he  "learns"  the  "habit"  of 
prayer.  If  he  is  faithful  to  the  practice,  his  daily 
meditations  become  both  a  cause  and  an  effect  of  that 
spirit  of  faith  which  is  the  very  heart  of  his  calling. 
He,  therefore,  comes  to  realize  in  his  own  daily  prac- 
tice and  in  the  supernatural  order  that  "circular 
process"  of  "persistent  imitation"  which  Professor 
Baldwin  considers  essential  for  the  mental  development 
of  the  individual.^ 

"It  is  in  the  body  of  the  prayer  that  its  chief  characteristics  are 
to  be  found.  It  consists,  as  the  Ignatian  does,  of  three  points  [but 
they  are  developed  in  another  way  than  that  followed  by  the 
Ignatian  method] ;  the  first  is  called  adoration,  the  second  com- 
munion, and  the  third  co-operation.  In  the  first  we  adore,  praise, 
love  and  thank  God.  In  the  second  we  try  to  transfer  to  our  own 
hearts  what  we  have  been  praising  and  loving  in  God,  and  to  par- 
ticipate in  its  virtue  according  to  our  measure.  In  the  third  we  co- 
operate with  the  grace  we  are  receiving  by  fervent  colloquies  and 
generous  resolutions.  The  ancient  fathers  have  handed  down  to 
us  this  method  of  prayer  as  in  itself  a  perfect  compendium  of 
Christian  perfection.  They  call  it  having  Jesus  before  their  eyes, 
which  is  the  adoration;  Jesus  in  their  hearts,  which  is  the  com- 
munion; and  Jesus  in  their  hands,  which  is  the  co-operation:  and 
in  these  three  things  all  the  Christian  life  consists."^ 

'  Op.  cit.,  p.  258. 

^  See  above,  p.  52.  Cf.  Baldwin  (Mental  Development,  p.  133) : 
"The  essential  thing,  then,  in  imitation  over  and  above  simple 
ideomotor  suggestion  is  that  the  stvmulus  starts  a  motor  process 
which  tends  to  reproduce  the  stvmulus  and,  through  it,  the  motor 
process  again.  From  the  physiological  side  we  have  a  circular 
activity — sensor,  motor;  sensor,  motor;  and  from  the  psychological 
side  we  have  a  similar  circle — reality,  image,  movement;  reality, 
image,  movement." 

^  Since  these  are  the  views  of  the  "ancient  fathers,"  the  "reflex 
arc  concept"  is  very  old  indeed.    See  also  above,  pp.  56,  57. 


298  The  Psychology  of  Meditation, 

The  novice  confirms  his  resolutions  by  uniting  his 
dispositions  with  those  of  his  divine  Teacher  and  Model 
in  the  performance  of  the  mystery,  or  the  practice  of 
the  virtue  or  the  maxim  which  has  been  the  subject  of 
meditation,  begging  the  special  grace  or  spirit  of  the 
mystery  or  virtue  or  maxim  from  God  Himself,  and 
asking  the  intercession  both  of  those  saints  who  ex- 
celled in  this  spirit  and  of  those  who  are  specially  in- 
terested in  his  own  religious  progress/  These  petitions 
are  well  adapted  to  increase  the  humble  confidence 
which  St.  Teresa  considers  an  essential  condition  of 
advancing  in  the  way  of  perfection.^  He  concludes 
his  meditation  by  a  summary  review,  followed  by  three 
special  acts.  In  the  first,  he  thanks  God  for  the  favors 
received  during  this  time  of  prayer.  He  thereby  pro- 
duces in  the  supernatural  order  a  state  of  soul  analo- 
gous to  that  of  intensified  interest  in  the  subject  and 
increased  attention  to  it  on  the  plane  of  purely  natural 
psychology,  a  psychic  condition  which  is  often  at- 
tended on  the  physiological  side  by  a  "heightened  dis- 
charge" of  nerve  currents.  The  act  of  thanksgiving 
may  be  followed  by  an  entire  oblation  to  God  of  the 
meditation  and  of  all  one's  thoughts,  desires,  words, 
and  deeds  of  the  day ;  for  it  is  the  holocaust  which  the 
novice  owes  to  his  Lord  and  Master.  Just  as  gratitude 
disposes  the  religious  to  profit  more  fully  by  favors 


^  Here  again  one  of  the  "social"  aspects  of  faith  appears. 

^'Cf.  Faber  (op.  cit.,  p.  31):  "St.  Teresa  says  humility  is  the 
first  requisite  for  those  who  wish  to  lead  an  ordinarily  good  life; 
but  that  courage  is  the  first  requisite  for  those  who  aim  at  any 
degree  of  perfection." 


Constituent  Elements  of  Meditation,  299 

from  on  high,  since  it  increases,  so  to  say,  his  spiritual 
"plasticity,"  so  the  act  of  offering  inclines  God  to  be 
generous  to  him  who  gives  his  whole  heart/  Last  of 
all,  the  meditation  is  placed  in  the  hands  of  our  Blessed 
Lady,  whom  Scripture  presents  to  us  as  a  perfect 
model  of  prayer  ^  and  as  an  advocate  having  tran- 
scendent power  over  the  heart  of  her  divine  Son.^ 

Such,  then,  briefly  is  in  outline  one  of  the  oldest 
forms  of  meditation  in  use  in  the  Catholic  Church.  In 
its  essential  features  it  led  to  heights  of  spirituality 
not  only  the  great  hermits  of  the  desert,  not  only  the 
throngs  of  cenobites  who  followed  close  upon  them,  but 
great  doctors  of  the  early  Church,  like  Augustine  and 
Jerome,  Gregory  and  Basil,  Athanasius  and  John 
Chrysostom.  It  developed  that  type  of  Christian 
heroism  which  St.  Philip  Neri,  one  of  the  modern 
saints,  engaged  in  "modern"  educational  work,  longed 
to  emulate.*  It  is  manifest,  then,  that  mental  prayer 
is  one  of  the  greatest  agencies  for  spiritual  progress 
which  the  novice  has  in  his  power.  But  to  justify  more 
fully  the  attention  given  here  to  the  subject,  it  is  now 
in  order  to  ask  whether  it  has  also  any  pedagogical 
value  as  such. 

^Thus  the  psalmist  sings  (Ps.  cvi,  8,  9):  "Let  the  mercies  of  the 
Lord  give  glory  to  Him:  and  His  wonderful  works  to  the  children 
of  men.  For  He  hath  satisfied  the  empty  soul,  and  hath  filled  the 
hungry  soul  with  good  things." — Cf.  Faber,  op.  cit.,  pp.  75  ff. 

'  Luke  ii,  19. 

'Luke,  i,  38;  John  ii,  1-11. 

*  For  indications  of  the  characteristic  features  of  other  forms 
of  meditation,  see  Faber,  op.  cit..  Chap.  XV,  especially  pp. 
248-265. 


300  The  Psychology  of  Meditation, 

Article  III, — The  Pedagogical    Value   of  Meditation, 

In  his  instructions  to  his  Brothers,  St.  John  Baptist 
de  la  Salle  tells  ^  them  to  hold  mental  prayer  in  great 
esteem.  For  this  attitude  of  mind  he  assigns  two  rea- 
sons: one  of  which  appeals  to  all  Christians  as  such, 
since  meditation  is  the  '^foundation  and  support  of  all 
virtues ;"  the  other,  to  his  own  disciples,  since  mental 
prayer  is  the  source  of  the  light  and  grace  that  they 
need.  Lest  he  be  misunderstood,  he  is  careful  to  specify 
that  meditation  is  the  source  of  the  light  and  grace 
needed  not  only  for  personal  sanctification,  but  also 
for  the  fulfillments  of  one's  duties.  On  first  reading, 
even  on  second  or  third  or  tenth  reading,  the  statement 
seems  extravagant.  Even  when  grace  is  interpreted 
as  signifying  supernatural  help  only  (and  this  is  man- 
ifestly his  meaning),  and  as  necessarily  implying  the 
natural  order  which  it  perfects,  the  words  are  such  as 
to  give  one  pause. ^  Yet  de  la  Salle  had  intimate  ex- 
perience, not  only  of  the  difficulties  of  teachers  as  a 
class,  but  also  of  the  trials  of  the  gifted  and  the 
mediocre,  of  the  fervent  and  the  lukewarm.  He  was 
not  a  man  to  make  rash  statements.  With  a  view  then 
to  explain  certain  principles  of  education,  it  is  emi- 
nently proper  to  take  this  page  not  from  his  life  only, 
but  from  the  history  of  education,  wherein  he  also  oc- 
cupies a  place  that  is  not  without  importance. 

I.      (a)   In  order  to  form  some  appreciation  of  its 

^  Recueil  de  diff events  petits  traitSs  a  Vusage  des  Frdres  des 
E coles  ChrMiennes  (ed.  1902),  pp.  123,  124.  (Eng.  tr.  Collection 
of  Short  Treatises  (ed.  1890),  pp.  96,  97;   (ed.  1906),  p.  124). 

^The  French  text  says  "toutes  les  graces." 


The  Pedagogical  Value  of  Meditation,        301 

pedagogical  value,  it  is  well  to  consider  meditation 
from  two  points  of  view:  (1)  that  of  method;  (^)  that 
of  elements.  Both  may  be  regarded  as  aspects  of  the 
principle  known  as  the  "transfer  of  training."  ^  In  its 
technical  sense,  transfer  of  training  is  ''the  ability  to 
use  in  one  act  the  elements  used  in  another  act."  ^  As 
regards  the  method  of  mental  prayer,  we  have  distin- 
guished the  period  of  preparation  from  that  occupied 
by  the  meditation  itself.  Furthermore,  we  have  noted 
three  stages  in  the  very  process  of  preparation.  In 
these  respects,  as  well  as  in  its  elements,  meditation  is 
akin  to  "study." 

(1)  It  is  admitted  by  leaders  in  educational  psy- 
chology that  the  student  who  has  gained  the  "con- 
cept of  method"  by  the  right  pursuit  of  one  sub- 
ject will  to  that  extent  be  benefited  when  applying 
himself  to  another  subject  where  a  like  method  is  to  be 
used.^  What,  then,  is  common  to  the  method  of  medi- 
tation and  the  method  of  study.?  Study  has  been  de- 
fined as  "the  vigorous  application  of  the  mind  to  a 
subject  for  the  satisfaction  of  a  felt  need."  *    This,  and 


^Transfer  of  training  is  an  offshoot  of  the  perennial  discussion 
of  "formal  discipline."  A  good  examination  of  the  pros  and  cons 
of  the  value  of  such  discipline  may  be  found  in  W.  C.  Ruediger's 
Principles  of  Education,  pp.  76-116,  156,  157,  163.  Cf.  above,  p. 
212,  note  1. 

*  Fracker,  University  of  Iowa  Studies  in  Psychology,  June,  1908, 
p.  86. 

«Cf.  W.  C.  Ruediger,  op.  cit.,  pp.  113  ff.;  E.  L.  Thorndike, 
Principles  of  Teaching,  pp.  243  ff.,  who  speaks  of  this  as  "identity 
of  procedure." 

*  F.  McMurry,  How  to  Study  and  Teaching  How  to  Study,  p. 


302  The  Psychology  of  Meditation, 

much  more  is  meditation,  which,  when  rightly  con- 
ducted, helps  us  to  "feel"  the  need  and  to  foresee  the 
means  both  of  supplying  the  need  and  overcoming  the 
obstacles  that  may  arise  thereto.  It  includes  that 
"higher  meaning"  of  study,  which,  according  to  Miss 
L.  B.  Earhart,^  is  "mental  activity  directed  toward 
the  assimilation  of  ideas,  the  reorganization  of  experi- 
ence." As  we  have  already  seen,  the  whole  purpose 
of  meditation  is  to  "assimilate"  the  fundamental  ideas 
of  the  Christian  religion  so  thoroughly  as  to  make 
them  the  directing  and  controlling  factors  of  one's 
whole  life.  There  is,  therefore,  sufficient  warrant  for 
assuming,  if  not  "identity  of  procedure,"  at  least  sim- 
ilarity of  method,^  between  what  is  to-day  held  to  be 
the  proper  method  of  study  and  the  formal  ways,  or 
"methods,"  of  meditation  which  the  Catholic  Church 
approves.^     A  closer  relation  is  found  to  exist  between 


^Systematic  Study  in  Elementary  SchooU,  p.  11. 

^  Cf.  W.  H.  Heck  {Mental  Discipline  and  Educational  Values, 
pp.  94-100) :  "A  general  benefit  can  be  derived  from  specific  train- 
ing in  so  far  as  the  person  trained  has  consciously  wrought  out, 
in  connection  with  the  specific  training,  a  general  concept  of 
method,  based  upon  the  specific  method  used  in  that  training. 
The  building  of  such  a  concept  follows  the  same  laws  as  does 
the  building  of  other  concepts.  ...  As  the  general  concept  of 
method  can  be  used  for  guidance  in  several  activities,  it  can  be 
considered  a  common,  transferable  element  in  them  all;  but  this 
common  element,  this  connecting  link,  is  one  of  knowledge  of  how 
to  do,  not  of  ability  to  do.  .  .  .  Therefore,  it  is  well  to  urge 
a  careful,  systematic  procedure  both  in  specific  training  and  in  i£e 
formation  of  general  concepts  of  method." 

^  In  its  strict  and  proper  sense,  "studying"  is  held  to  be  not 
'psychological  merely,  as  involving  the  employment  of  mental  proc- 
esses, but  logical  also,  as  involving  "a  thought-situation  or  prob- 
lem, and  thinking  which  is  influenced  by  the  nature  of  such  a  sit- 


The  Pedagogical  Value  of  Meditation, 

study  and  meditation  when  we  examine  the  "factors  of 
logical  study."  ^  The  first  of  these  is  the  recognition 
of  a  "problem."  Every  meditation  which  the  novice 
makes  presupposes  such  a  problem.  How,  he  asks,  am 
I  to  correct  what  has  been  amiss  in  my  conduct?  how 
supply  what  has  been  lacking?  The  example  of  Christ 
and  of  His  saints  supplies  an  ideal  to  be  reproduced, 
and  therefore  presents  a  problem  to  be  solved;  viz.. 
How,  on  the  one  hand,  am  I  to  remove  the  obstacle  to 
the  realization  of  this  ideal  in  m3^self ;  and,  on  the  other, 
how  am  I  to  secure  and  to  apply  the  means  requisite 
to  attain  my  ideal?  These  very  questions  show  the 
connection  between  meditation  and  the  second  factor 
in  logical  study,  viz.,  the  "gathering  of  data  bearing 
on  the  problem."  They  also  imply  the  third  factor, 
viz.,  the  "organization  of  this  material  into  groups  of 
related  ideas."  As  to  the  fourth  factor,  "the  exercise 
of  scientific  doubt,"  or  judging  of  the  soundness  of 
statements,  there  would  at  first  seem  to  be  less  resem- 
blance between  meditation  and  study;  yet  this  is  not 
really  the  case,  for  the  novice  has  to  test  his  tentative 
resolutions  by  the  standard  of  the  Gospel  precepts, 
counsels  and  maxims.  In  so  doing,  he  proceeds  to 
utilize  the  fifth  factor,  the  "verifying  of  conclusions," 
appealing  to  the  practice  of  the  saints  in  like  circum- 
stances. The  sixth  factor,  the  "fixing  of  knowledge  by 
thoughtful  memorizing"  is  replaced  in  meditation  by 

uation"   (I>.  B.  Earhart,  op.  cit,  p.  6).     Paul  Klapper,  in  PriTi- 
ciples  of  Educational  Practice  (pp.  363-372),  presents  much  use- 
ful and  practical  material.    Cf.  also  p.  301,  above. 
» Cf.  L.  B.  Earhart,  op.  cit.,  pp.  21,  22. 


304  The  Psychology  of  Meditation. 

the  gathering  of  what  is  called  a  "spiritual  bouquet," 
viz.,  a  saying  of  our  Lord  or  one  of  the  saints,  or  a 
prayer,  which  concentrates  the  essence  of  the  medita- 
tion, especially  on  its  affective  or  emotional  side,  and 
thus  stimulates  the  novice  to  live  up  to  the  ideal  pre- 
sented in  the  meditation.  What  is  presented  as  the 
seventh  and  last  factor  of  logical  study,  viz.,  the 
"preservation  of  one's  individuality  throughout  the 
process,"  is  rather  in  meditation  an  essential  condition 
of  mental  prayer  itself;  for,  as  we  have  seen,  the  very 
purpose  of  the  mental  prayer  is  the  spiritual  progress 
of  the  novice.  Hence  the  processes  of  meditation  tend 
to  be  essentially  concrete,  and  the  resolutions  must  be 
present,  particular,  and  efficacious, — the  desiderandum 
and  desideratum  of  every  serious  study  on  the  part  of 
the  earnest  student,  and,  from  the  viewpoint  of  the 
teacher,  of  every  fruitful  recitation. 

(2)  As  to  their  elements,  there  is  also  much  in  com- 
mon between  meditation  and  study.  In  both,  there 
must  be  clear  apprehension  of  the  leading  thoughts, 
earnest  appeal  to  the  nobler  and  deeper  interests  of 
man,  and  confirmation  of  both  in  one's  attitude  toward 
life  and  one's  efforts  to  live  up  to  ideals. 

I.  (b)  Meditation  has  also  points  of  contact  with 
the  method  of  recitation  made  familiar  by  the  disciples 
of  Herbart.^  This  method  has  five  steps  or  stages. 
The  first  is  preparation.^     Its  very  name  suggests  an 


^  H.  Suzzallo,  "Steps,  Five  Formal,"  in  Monroe's  Cyclopedia  of 
Education. 

^  Cf.  C.  A.  McMurry,  The  Method  of  the  Recitation,  pp.  92-117. 


The  Pedagogical  Value  of  Meditation,        305 

affinity  to  meditation.  The  teacher  prepares  his  les- 
son for  his  class.  The  novice  prepares  to  "recite  his 
lesson''  to  his  divine  Master.  The  second  stage  consists 
in  the  presentation  of  new  matter.  Here  the  skill  of 
the  teacher  is  called  into  active  play,  for  he  can  "pre- 
sent" matter  that  is  new  for  the  pupils  only  in  so  far  as 
he  associates  it  intimately  with  what  is  already  old  and 
familiar  to  them.  He  must  solve  a  problem  in  apper- 
ception. But  the  novice  must  perform  a  like  process. 
He  must  study  the  old  truth  with  new  vision,  from  a 
higher  vantage  point,  with  renewed  interest;  else  he 
will  find  his  affections  dormant  and  his  resolutions 
weak.  The  third  step  is  known  as  comparison  and  ab- 
straction. The  teacher  might,  for  example,  compare 
the  life  processes  of  several  plants  with  those  of  typical 
animals  and  then  "abstract"  the  processes  common  to 
all  organic  life.  In  like  manner,  the  novice  compares 
his  conduct  with  reference  to  the  virtue  of  faith  with 
that  of  the  apostles,  with  that  of  the  doctors  of  the 
Church,  with  that  of  his  own  founder,  and  then  de- 
duces the  attitude  becoming  to  him  as  Christian  and  re- 
ligious. The  fourth  step  the  Herbartians  call  "gener- 
alization." It  puts  forth  explicitly  what  is  given  im- 
plicitly by  the  very  process  of  abstraction.  For  the 
novice  it  means  that  when  he  is  placed  in  circumstances 
like  those  wherein  our  Lord  specially  commanded  the 
exercise  of  faith,  or  like  those  wherein  the  saints  prac- 
tised faith  so  meritoriously,  he  is  thenceforth  to  heed 
the  divine  behest,  to  emulate  the  example  of  his  great 
spiritual  predecessors.     The  last  step,  "application," 


306  The  Psychology  of  Meditation. 

corresponds,  in  the  method  of  recitation,  to  the  reso- 
lutions of  the  meditation. 

Lest  these  steps  be  considered  too  formal  by  the 
dynamic  teacher,  the  Herbartians  are  careful  to  re- 
mind us  that  their  order  is  not  fixed,  nor  is  it  invari- 
ably essential  to  include  them  all.  They  are  means  to 
an  end;  that  is,  to  the  thorough  assimilation  of  the 
principle  or  truth  to  be  taught.  In  like  manner,  the 
novice  learns  that  the  sequence  of  acts  or  affections  in 
his  meditation  is  a  suggestive  plan  rather  than  a  man- 
datory order;  that  the  good  religious,  like  the  skilled 
teacher,  must  have  in  mind  a  definite  outline  of  what 
he  is  to  do,  and  yet  keep  it  so  flexible  as  to  be  always 
free  to  follow  a  better  suggestion  or  to  "accommodate" 
himself  to  the  spiritual  requirements  of  the  actual 
situation.^ 

II.  We  have  given  indications  of  the  fact  that, 
when  sedulously  followed,  the  method  of  meditation 
will  give  the  novice  an  accredited  plan  of  procedure 
for  his  own  studies  ^  and  a  pattern  which  he  may  pre- 


*  Besides  its  connection  with  the  method  of  study  and  the 
method  of  recitation,  the  method  of  meditation  is  allied  to  the 
general  methods  or  "types"  of  teaching  (Cf.  L.  B.  Earhart, 
Types  of  Teaching,  passim).  As  we  have  already  hinted  medita- 
tion presents  an  effective  plan  for  teaching  a  live  catechism  les- 
son, for  making  class  reflections  that  "count";  in  general,  for  giv- 
ing such  a  lesson  as  is  really  worth  while. 

^The  works  on  study  by  Professor  C.  A.  McMurry  and  Dr.  L. 
B.  Earhart,  already  cited,  grew  out  of  their  investigations  into 
pupils'  method  of  study.  Both  discovered  that  the  method  was 
conspicuous  by  its  absence.  Further  investigation  revealed  the 
more  astonishing  fact  that  even  the  pupils'  teachers  had  no  defi- 
nite method  of  study — another  verification  of  the  old  saying, 
"3uch  a  pupil,  such  a  teacher." 


The  Pedagogical  Value  of  Meditation,        307 

sent  to  his  future  pupils  in  order  to  assure  to  them  the 
priceless  boon  of  a  right  method  of  study.  It  will  fur- 
ther equip  him  with  the  broad  outlines  of  a  good  plan 
to  follow  in  conducting  recitations  in  class,  and,  better 
still,  with  the  contour  of  a  flexible  pattern  or  type  of 
teaching,  which  is  applicable  to  many  subjects.  The 
pedagogical  value  of  the  meditation  does  not  end  even 
here.  In  its  three  elements,  viz.,  the  considerations,  the 
affections,  and  the  resolutions,  it  is,  indeed,  one  of  the 
higher  illustrations  of  the  reflex  arc  concept.  The  con- 
siderations correspond  to  the  "incoming  impression"; 
the  affections,  to  the  "middle  term";  the  resolutions,  to 
the  "outgoing  discharge."  ^  Meditation,  therefore,  in- 
cludes the  three  staples  which  the  pupil  should  be 
trained  to  look  for  in  all  his  studies ;  the  three  ingredi- 
ents which  the  teacher  should  blend  in  every  lesson 
which  he  wishes  to  make  fruitful  for  his  class. 

Systematic  preparation  for  meditation  will  develop 
in  the  novice  a  habit  of  logical  thinking,  which  the 
right  use  of  the  considerations  will  easily  strengthen. 
The  sincere  and  intelligent  desire  to  profit  by  the  med- 
itation will  give  him  a  practical  exercise  in  motivation, 
extending  its  efficacy  not  only  to  the  preparation,  but 
also  the  actual  conduct  of  the  prayer  itself.  Further- 
more, he  can  by  attention  and  diligence  cultivate  the 
habit  of  "associating"  considerations,  reasonings  and 
even  impressions,  with  the  affections,  and  these  in  turn 
with  the  Christian  attitude  toward  life  and  with  that 
readiness  to  give  expression  to  his  convictions  which  are 


'  Cf .  p.  230,  above. 


308  The  Psychology  of  Meditation, 

indispensable  for  true  progress.  In  a  word,  then,  the 
diligent  and  faithful  preparation  and  performance  of 
mental  prayer  are  fraught  with  precious  benefits  to  the 
novice  from  the  pedagogical  viewpoint  and  in  the 
merely  natural  order.  By  analogy  one  may  argue  to 
the  supernatural  order.  In  addition  to  these  values, 
there  is  one  of  social  import.  The  more  earnest  the 
novice  is  in  the  fulfilment  of  this  duty  to  God,  the  bet- 
ter is  he  equipped  to  emphasize  spontaneously,  effectu- 
ally, and  by  the  force  of  his  own  example,  those  Chris- 
tian values  to  the  appreciation  of  which  it  is  at  once 
his  duty  and  his  privilege  to  train  his  pupils.  Can  we 
doubt,  then,  that  meditation  rightly  and  faithfully  pur- 
sued is  a  prominent  factor  in  developing  some  of  the 
special  qualities  of  which  the  teacher  stands  in  need? 
Can  we  not  see  here  also  some  explanation  of  the  fact 
to  which  Dr.  Foerster  ^  has  called  attention,  that  re- 
ligious orders  develop  great  efficiency  in  persons  of 
even  mediocre  talent? 

In  respect,  then,  to  both  method  and  content,  to 
both  form  and  matter,  meditation  is  capable  of  diffus- 
ing its  excellence  far  beyond  its  own  immediate  sphere 
into  that  of  subjects  having  either  a  like  method  or 
similar  matter, — or,  to  adopt  Professor  Thorndike's 
terminology,^  having  "identity  of  procedure"  or 
"identity  of  substance."  To  these  two  classes  of  sub- 
jects affected  by  transfer  of  training.  Professor  Rued- 


*Cf.   Marriage   and   the   Sex  Problem,   footnote   pp.    142,    143, 
quoted  above,  pp.  142,  143. 

^Loc.  cit. 


Summary,  309 

iger  adds  a  third,  where  the  subjects  have  "identity  of 
aim."  ^  From  this  viewpoint,  the  utility  of  meditation 
may  be  extended  to  every  occupation  of  the  novice,  to 
every  branch  which  as  a  religious  he  may  later  be 
called  upon  to  teach.  For,  as  the  one  great  purpose 
of  the  Christian  life  is  to  grow  into  more  perfect  re- 
semblance to  Christ  Himself,  so  the  dominant  aim  of 
the  religious  educator  whether  in  studying  or  in  teach- 
ing is  to  gain  or  to  impart  a  clearer  vision  of  the 
Christian  ideal  and  of  the  place  occupied  by  creatures 
in  the  attainment  of  that  ideal.^ 

Article  IV, — Summary, 

After  a  general  survey  of  the  subject-matter  of  psy- 
chology, we  selected  perception  as  a  typical  human 
process.  We  found  that  in  adult  life  it  includes  not 
only  the  cognitive  elements  of  sensation,  imagination, 
memory,  and  even  intellect,  but  also  affective  elements 
that  cluster  round  interest.  When  denominated  apper- 
ception, perception  plainly  entails  an  attitude  toward 
things  and  therefore  implies  the  third  division  of  men- 
tal processes,  viz.,  conations.  The  consideration  of 
perception  led  naturally  to  that  of  "learning"  with 
special  reference  to  its  physiological  basis.  Learning 
itself,  when  reduced  to  its  simplest  terms,  implies  the 
"reflex  arc,"  and  even  in  its  highest  estate  presupposes 
the  law  of  "habit."  One  of  the  important  functions 
of  habit  in  any  adequate  plan  of  education  is  to  niodify 

'  Op.  cit.,  p.  110. 

2  Cf.  E.  J.  Swift,  Youth  and  the  Race,  p.  126. 


310  The  Tsychology  of  Meditation, 

and  control  instinctive  action.  The  purpose  of  the 
novitiate  is  to  develop  in  the  novice  an  "apperceptive 
mass"  in  and  by  v/hich  he  will  regard  the  occurrences 
and  the  duties  of  life  from  the  viewpoint  of  faith.  This 
is  an  attitude  he  must  learn  to  make  habitual,  and,  in 
the  process,  he  constantly  attains  to  a  higher  expres- 
sion of  the  reflex  arc  concept.  The  chief  means  by 
which  the  novice  learns  to  make  the  viewpoint  of  faith 
habitual,  is  meditation,  an  exercise  which  exemplifies 
in  an  excellent  way  the  three  elements  of  the  reflex  arc. 
By  virtue  of  the  principle  known  as  the  transfer  of 
training  he  can  extend  beyond  its  own  proper  limits  the 
benefits  accruing  from  the  faithful  and  habitual  prac- 
tice of  mental  prayer.  He  can  make  the  method  of 
mental  prayer  doubly  valuable,  viz.,  from  the  pupils' 
viewpoint,  as  suggesting  a  plan  of  study  to  follow,^ 
and  from  the  teacher's,  as  outlining  a  plan  for  con- 
ducting a  recitation.     The  matter,  or  content,  of  medi- 


^Dr.  Shields,  Lesson  II,  in  his  Psychology  of  Education,  enum- 
erates nine  steps  in  "the  Art  of  Study":  1.  Reflect  on  the  title  of 
the  lesson;  write  out  a  brief  forecast  of  what  it  should  contain. 
2.  Read  the  text  carefully;  compare  it  step  by  step  with  your  fore- 
cast. 3.  Write  out  brief  index  titles  to  the  main  thoughts  in  the 
lesson,  observing  the  order  of  the  text.  4.  Arrange  these  index 
titles  in  the  form  of  a  diagram  to  show  their  logical  connection. 
6.  If  there  be  review  questions,  write  out  answers  to  them.  6.  If 
collateral  reading  is  indicated,  take  it  up  in  the  order  suggested. 
(This  will  promote  general  development  along  the  line  of  the  text 
and  restore  symmetry  of  mind).  7.  Discuss  the  subject  with 
others  who  have  studied  it.  (This  is  the  "seminar"  method.) 
8.  Write  out  answers  to  any  research  questions  that  may  be  sug- 
gested. 9.  Note  down  the  unsolved  problems  suggested  by  the 
study.  If  they  be  numerous,  the  study  has  been  effectual. — It  is 
easy  to  see  that  the  first  four  of  these  steps  are  closely  related  to 
the  "preparation"  for  meditation. 


Summary,  311 

tation  contains  the  three  kinds  of  process  implied  in 
the  reflex  arc  concept  and  is  therefore  an  illustration 
of  the  thorough  assimilation  by  the  mind  of  a  fact  or 
principle.  Lastly,  the  excellence  of  the  aim  of  medita- 
tion suggests  to  the  novice  the  ideal  which  he  is  to  keep 
before  him  in  all  his  actions  and  which  later  he  is  to 
propose  to  his  pupils. 


k 


BOOK  V. 
SOCIOLOGICAL  ASPECTS  OF  FAITH. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


Faith  as  a  Social  Force.^ 


Article  L — Faith  as  a  Social  Force  in  the  Novitiate. 

As  A  working  definition  of  sociology.  Professor  C.  A. 
Ellwood  proposes  for  our  acceptance,  "the  science  of 
the  organization  and  evolution  of  society."  ^  It  should 
be  interpreted  so  broadly  as  to  include  the  "origin,  de- 
velopment, structure  and  functions  of  the  forms  of 
association."  ^  The  religious  order,  of  which  the  nov- 
ice seeks  to  become  a  professed  member,  is  a  form  of 
social  "organization,"  having  a  definite  origin,  devel- 
opment, and  structure,  and  seeking  to  perform  func- 
tions useful  not  alone  to  its  members,  but  also  to  larger 
groups  of  men.  Religious  orders,  in  turn,  are  but  divi- 
sions of  a  more  comprehensive  organization,  the  Cath- 
olic Church,  from  which  they  derive  their  rights  and 
privileges,  and  whose  mission  they  help  to  extend  and  to 
strengthen.  The  group  spirit  puts  forth  its  claim  to 
the  novice  from  the  beginning  of  his  life.  He  is  born 
into  the  family  and  he  is  at  the  same  time  a  potential 
citizen.     Besides  the  family  and  the  state,  which  are 


'  Cf .  above,  pp.  141-145. 

'Sociology  in  its  Psychological  Aspects^  p.  7.  By  "evolution" 
he  means  "orderly  change  of  any  sort." 

■  P.  8.  The  essence  of  this  definition  he  credits  to  the  biologist, 
Professor  J.  Arthur  Thomson  (Heredity,  p.  608). 

316 


316  Faith  as  a  Social  Force, 

societies  in  the  order  of  nature,  there  is  the  super- 
natural society  into  which  he  is  admitted  by  baptism; 
for  the  Catholic  Church  claims  to  be  supernatural  in 
origin,  constitution  and  mission/ 

Sociological  aspects  have  recurred  persistently  in 
the  earlier  sections  of  this  book.  Even  the  very  terms 
faith,^  religion,  novice,  and  pedagogical  value,^  have 
sociological  implications.  Environment  *  is  not  physi- 
cal onl}^,  but  social  as  well.  Plasticity,^  therefore,  has 
likewise  a  social  connotation,  and  a  large  part  of  one's 
natural  success  in  life  must  depend  on  his  native  or  ac- 
quired power  of  adjusting  himself  to  the  social  condi- 
tions in  which  he  lives.  The  "learning  process"  ^  is 
also  social  in  its  implications,  since  the  simplest  forms 
of  learning  entail  imitation  of  one's  fellows.  Even  the 
large,  confused,  and  random  movements  of  a  child,  giv- 
ing place  gradually  to  attention  to  the  details  of  the 
act  and  showing  increased  skill  in  execution,  are  par- 
alleled in  the  life  of  the  religious.^  When  the  novice 
seeks  for  an  illustration  of  the  principles  of  the  spir- 
itual life,  when  he  looks  for  an  interpretation  of  his 
rule,  it  is  to  the  example  of  his  confreres  that  he  turns 


^  On  the  Catholic  Church,  see  Apologetique  ChrMienne,  3e  partie, 
Brothers  of  the  Christian  Schools,  and,  in  general,  standard  works 
of  Apologetics.  F.  J.  Koch,  Manual  of  Apologetics  (A.  M.  Bu- 
chanan, tr.,  C.  Bruehl,  ed.),  presents  the  case  briefly  in  Chap.  VII. 

2  See  Bk.  II,  above,  especially  pp.  108,  114,  116  f.,  120  ff.,  129, 
133  ff. 

« See  above.  Chap.  V,  p.  133 ;  also,  p.  149. 

*  Cf .  pp.  171,  178-183,  above. 

"  Cf.  pp.  192  ff.,  above. 

« Cf .  pp.  221  ff.,  above. 

^J.  M.  Baldwin,  Story  of  the  Mind,  pp.  76-80,  167  ff. 


Faith  as  a  Social  Force  in  the  Novitiate.       317 

for  light  and  for  answer.  The  more  perfectly  he  imi- 
tates them,  the  better  does  he  grasp  the  principles  that 
are  fundamental  to  his  order,  and  the  keener  becomes 
his  vision  for  the  details  of  conduct.  He,  too,  acquires 
the  "habit"  of  regular  observance,  which  is  perhaps  the 
most  emphatic  as  well  as  the  most  difficult  expression, 
on  the  part  of  the  novice,  of  the  unchanging  verities  of 
the  spiritual  life. 

In  proportion  as  the  novice  masters  the  significance 
of  the  novitiate  exercises,  his  relations  to  the  group, 
to  his  fellow  religious,  undergo  corresponding  changes. 
He  becomes  less  passive  and  more  active  as  a  member ; 
the  ratio  of  "give"  and  "take"  becomes  more  nearly 
equalized.  His  growing  knowledge  of  his  duties  and 
his  greater  zeal  for  their  fulfilment  lead  to  their  more 
exact  performance,  and  so  he,  too,  contributes  to  the 
community  the  social  asset  of  good  example  and  helps 
to  strengthen  the  social  solidarity.  Apart  from  the 
grace  received  in  the  sacraments,  it  is  from  mental 
prayer  rightly  made  that  he  is  to  draw  both  the 
strength  and  the  constancy  requisite  to  produce  these 
results.^  It  is  well  also  to  note  that  the  community 
spirit,  the  group  spirit,  into  the  realization  of  which 
he  grows  from  day  to  day,  is  of  the  more  perfect  kind : 
it  is  reflective.  Three  kinds  of  social  groups  have,  in 
fact,  been  distinguished.^  In  the  first,  the  social  tend- 
ency on  the  part  of  the  individuals  is  inherited,  the 
modes  of  action  are  "fixed  and  unprogressive,"  the  re- 

'  See  above,  pp.  307  ff. 

'  Cf.  J.  M.  Baldwin,  The  Individual  cmd  Society,  pp.  36  jQF. 


318  Faith  as  a  Social  Force. 

actions  are  instinctive.  Here  reason  has  little  or  no 
swav,  and  the  group  as  such  is  animal,  not  human.  In 
the  second,  the  tendency  to  collective  action  is  trans- 
mitted by  social  heredity;  that  is,  it  is  taught.  Hence 
the  individuals  must  be  'Aplastic,"  learning,  so  far  as 
they  are  members  of  the  group,  precisely  the  same 
things,  and  therefore  tending  to  show  conservative 
traits,^  yet  withal  retaining  their  spontaneity.  The 
third  form  of  group  is  held  together  by  the  bonds  of 
reflective  life.  The  more  thoroughly  the  members  un- 
derstand the  principles  of  the  organization,  the  more 
heartily  do  they  accept  them  and  the  more  earnestly 
do  they  strive  to  live  up  to  them.  This  is  the  social 
group  proper.  The  mere  statement  of  its  distinctive 
traits  suffices  to  show  that  it  is  into  such  a  group  that 
the  novice  is  admitted.^ 


^  It  is  sometimes  maintained  that  this  stage  of  group  life  is 
characteristic  of  religious  orders,  and  therefore  that  they  are  in- 
trinsically, if  not  essentially,  conservative.  We  have  already  con- 
tended that  fidelity  to  the  spirit  of  the  religious  life,  especially 
by  the  fervent  and  regular  practice  of  meditation,  is  a  safeguard 
against  routine  and  a  condition  of  spiritual  progress.  Our  Lord 
condemned  both  the  conservatism  of  the  Pharisees,  who  professed 
reverence  for  only  the  "letter"  of  the  law,  and  the  radicalism  of 
the  Sadducees,  who,  abjuring  all  respect  for  the  letter,  claimed  to 
be  guided  by  the  "spirit"  of  the  law.  Herein  He  set  for  all  time 
and  for  all  religious  of  all  stations  and  offices  the  difficult  example 
of  holding  in  honor  both  the  letter  and  the  spirit  of  their  rules 
and  constitutions,  by  respect  for  the  letter  as  "informed"  or 
vivified,  by  the  spirit.  From  the  viewpoint  of  genetic  psychology 
the  origin  of  a  prescription  will  often  help  to  set  forth  what  its 
real  spirit  should  be.  Here,  too,  the  golden  mean  between  "letter" 
and  "spirit"  may  be  difficult  to  attain  and  to  keep. 

^  The  novice  is  not  allowed  to  pronounce  vows  until  he  has  be- 
come acquainted  with  the  rules  and  constitution  of  the  order  and 
publicly  professed  his  determination  to  respect  their  observance. 


Faith  as  a  Social  Force  in  the  Novitiate.       319 

The  individual  and  society  are  complementary  forces. 
Just  as  the  normal  growth  of  the  individual  tends  to 
solidarity  and  strengthens  the  social  bond,  so  the  nor- 
mal exercise  of  his  social  duties  by  the  individual  tends 
to  develop  his  own  personality.  It  is  by  the  mental 
bond  of  conscious  intention  and  voluntary  co-operation 
that  human  society  is  held  together.^  There  is  a  com- 
mon fund  of  knowledge,  which  is  expressed  in  "public 
opinion" ;  of  feeling,  which  is  revealed  in  the  accepted 
aesthetic  canons ;  and  of  action,  which  sets  a  standard 
for  "public  morals."  It  is  according  to  this  threefold 
norm  that  the  individual  is  trained;  it  is  by  his  con- 
formity to  its  requirements  that  his  social  influence 
will  be  chiefly  determined  and  gauged.  Yet,  in  the  very 
work  of  assimilating  this  common  knowledge,  feeling, 
and  action,  he  displays  "variations";  in  the  very 
process  of  "imitating"  his  fellows,  he  discloses  traits 
of  individuality.     In  the  words  of  Professor  Baldwin: 

"He  is  not  a  repeating  machine.  His  mental  creations  are 
much  more  vital  and  transforming.  Try  as  he  will,  he  cannot 
exactly  reproduce;  and  when  he  comes  near  to  it,  his  self-love 
protests  and  claims  its  right  to  do  his  own  thinking.  So  the  new 
form,  the  personal  shading,  the  embodiment  of  individual  interest, 
the  exhibition  of  a  special  mode  of  feeling — all  these  go  to  make 
his  result  a  new  thing,  which  is  of  possible  value  for  the  society 
in  which  it  arises."* 

These  individual  differences,  so  humble  in  beginning 
and  so  slight  in  character,  are  the  very  condition  of 
that  social  rivalry  which  has  been  designated  as  "the 


^  Cf.  J.  M.  Baldwin,  The  Individual  and  Society,  Chap.  I. 
» P.  162. 


320  Faith  as  a  Social  Force. 

means  of  selection  for  mental  and  moral  purposes  in 
the  environment  of  the  social  order."  ^  It  is  upon  the 
higher  and  nobler  forms  of  this  rivalry,  "urged  on  by 
motives  of  advancement,  personal  and  social,  and 
gratified  by  both  personal  and  social  excellence,  that 
the  life  of  society  depends."  Hence  "the  most  urgent 
problem  of  to-day  in  the  world  of  labor  [and  beyond 
it]  is  that  of  saving  the  individual  qualities  of  men, 
that  society  may  profit  by  them.  By  suppressing  the 
free  exercise  of  personality,  the  group  suffers  a  return 
to  mediocrity  in  all  its  activites."  ^ 

It  will  readily  be  granted  that  the  novice  in  the  no- 
vitiate is  subject  to  the  essential  conditions  of  human 
society.  Even  a  certain  measure  of  interplay  between 
individual  and  group  may  be  conceded,  since  he  not 
only  takes  example  from  his  fellows,  but  also  in  turn 
sets  them  patterns  to  follow,  whether  for  weal  or  woe, 
for  better  or  worse.  But  that  he  retains  his  individu- 
ality, that  he  even  develops  it, — this  is  not  so  generally 
admitted.  Is  he  not  specially  subject  to  authority.'^ 
Does  he  not  himself  confess  that,  as  a  candidate  for 
the  religious  life,  he  must  regulate  all  his  actions  by 
obedience?  Does  he  not  thereby  "suppress  the  free 
exercise  of  personality,  and  contribute  his  share  toward 
sending  his  group  back  to  mediocrity  in  all  its  activi- 
ties"?^    The  objection  is   specious;  it  may  even  get 


ip.  116. 

2  P.  89. 

'  It  does  not  enter  into  the  scope  of  this  book  to  consider  the 
case  of  conflict  between  the  individual  religious  and  the  superiors 
of  his  order.     Such  misunderstandings  are  rare  in  the  novitiate, 


Faith  as  a  Social  Force  in  the  Novitiate.       3^1 

confirmation  from  individual  instances.     On  the  other 
hand,  we  have  already  quoted  testimony  to  the  effect 


for  the  novice  is  in  a  state  of  religious  pupilage.  It  is  later  in 
his  career  that  such  a  condition  may  arise.  Conflicts  of  this  na- 
ture are  so  characteristic  of  group  life  and,  we  may  add,  of  group 
progress,  that  it  would  be  passing  strange  if  they  did  not  occur 
from  time  to  time  in  religious  orders.  The  individual  may  be  in 
the  right;  and  the  group,  in  the  wrong.  To  deny  that  is  to  deny 
the  beginnings  of  Christianity.  A  quotation  from  Professor  Bald- 
win (Social  and  Ethical  Interpretations,  pp.  565-567,  3d  ed.)  is 
pertinent:  '*The  social  order  represents  the  generalized  ethical 
sense.  The  only  way  for  a  man  to  carry  out  his  protest  is  to 
persuade  other  men,  until  he  gets  his  opinion  adopted.  Then  the 
conflict  ceases,  since  then  the  reform  which  he  proposes  receives 
ethical  [sic]  and  social  sanction.  But  in  the  case  of  ethical  pro- 
tests of  single  men  against  the  social  order,  we  have  a  diflPerent 
phenomenon.  This  sort  of  conflict  is  more  serious  and  profound, 
because  the  sanctions  involved  are  more  comprehensive.  The 
ethical  in  the  man  represents  the  essential  and  highest  outcome 
of  his  individual  nature;  this  on  the  one  hand.  The  socially 
established  represents  the  highest  outcome  of  the  collective  activ- 
ities of  man;  that  on  the  other  hand.  What  then  can  be  done  in 
the  case  of  conflict  between  these  two?  Nothing!  Nothing  can 
be  done.  It  is  the  case  of  the  fountain  running  higher  than  its 
source.  .  .  .  This  is  the  final  and  irreducible  antinomy  of 
society.  It  shows  at  once  the  law  of  social  growth,  its  direction 
and  its  goal.  It  shows  the  dialectic  of  growth  in  its  concrete 
social  form,  as  in  the  child's  obedience  we  see  it  in  its  concrete 
private  form.  Society  must  simply  listen  to  such  a  man,  for  her 
weal  or  woe,  as  the  child  listens  to  his  father.  .  .  .  But  in 
listening  to  him,  and  in  doing  with  him,  she  is  reaching  for  her 
own  by  right.  He  is  of  her,  she  has  made  him." — Eventually, 
however,  both  individual  and  group  undergo  modification,  and  so 
the  period  of  adjustment  is  ushered  in. 

As  for  distinctly  religious  groups  that  need  reformation,  we 
have  but  to  refer  to  the  practice  of  St.  Francis  de  Sales,  who 
"urged  upon  them  a  sedulous  exercise  of  mental  prayer,  spiritual 
reading,  and  a  frequent  approaching  to  the  sacraments  of  penance 
and  eucharist"  (The  Spirit  of  St.  Francis  de  Sales,  p.  220).  For 
the  group,  then,  as  for  the  individual,  the  quickening  of  faith  is 
the  indispensable  condition  of  Christian  progress.  And  the  quick- 
ening of  faith  is  secured  and  maintained  by  the  sincere  and  con- 
stant practice  of  meditation  (cf.  pp.  281-309,  above).  This  is  a 
consideration  that  does  not  enter  into  Professor  Baldwin's  scheme. 


322  Faith  as  a  Social  Force. 

that,  given  the  same  material,  the  religious  orders  ob- 
tain superior  results.^  How  are  we  to  explain  the 
discrepancy? 

The  psychologist  who  attempts  to  trace  the  develop- 
ment of  the  child's  mind,  notes  that  its  attention  is  first 
directed  to  external  moving  objects.^  Then  there 
comes  a  differentiation  between  objects  whose  move- 
ments are  regular  and  those  whose  movements  seem  to 
be  exempt  from  law.  In  the  latter  class  are  persons. 
All  such  objects  in  the  environment  have  been  termed 
"projects."  When,  however,  the  child  imitates  the  ac- 
tions of  a  given  person,  he  thereby  acquires  a  percep- 
tion of  the  meaning  of  the  action — a  state  of  mind 
unattainable  otherwise.  Henceforth  when  he  perceives 
other  persons  performing  similar  actions,  he  ascribes 
to  them  mental  states  like  those  which  he  himself  ex- 
perienced in  making  the  motions.  Both  he  and  they 
are  now  "subjects" ;  i,  e.,  they  possess,  in  so  far,  com- 
mon mental  traits  and  experiences.  From  this  small 
beginning  grows  up  the  habit  of  considering  other  per- 
sons as  the  same  with  himself,  not  merely  in  this  one 
experience,  but  in  their  whole  nature.  Such  persons 
are  then  "ejects."  The  whole  process  is  the  psycholo- 
gist's accounting  for  the  fact  that  we  do,  as  in  a  sense 
we  must,  judge  others  by  ourselves.  Now,  what  hap- 
pens to  the  child  in  the  family  group  is   also  in  its 


^  Cf.  second  quotation  from  Dr.  Foerster,  p.  142,  above,  espe- 
cially second  sentence. 

*Cf.  J.  M.  Baldwin,  Mental  Development,  pp.  119,  338  ff.;  also 
8tory  of  the  Mind,  pp.  80  ff.,  where  he  treats  it  under  the  topic 
of  '^personality  suggestion." 


Faith  as  a  Social  Force  in  the  Novitiate,       3^3 

larger  outlines  the  experience  of  the  novice  in  the  re- 
ligious group  to  which  he  has  been  admitted.  He,  too, 
learns  from  the  performance  of  the  prescribed  acts, 
as  illustrated  by  his  fellow-novices  (his  "projects"), 
what  it  is  to  be  a  religious  "subject."  His  own  mental 
experience  he  may  "eject"  into  his  associates  and  so 
form  a  truer  estimate  of  their  spiritual  helps  and 
hindrances,  trials  and  triumphs.  Herein  he  finds  a 
psychological  justification  for  the  Christian  command- 
ment of  fraternal  charity.  But  the  value  of  this  ex- 
perience is  not  limited  to  his  own  plane  of  existence,  it 
extends  also  to  higher  and  to  lower  levels.  It  is  to  be- 
come for  him,  on  the  one  hand,  the  fruitful  means  of 
interpreting,  later  on,  the  difficulties  which  his  pupils 
will  meet;  and,  on  the  other,  the  key  to  an  understand- 
ing of  the  lives  of  the  saints.^  It  is  this  personal  ex- 
perience, as  we  have  already  seen,^  that  he  brings  to 
his  morning  meditation.  And  it  is  by  means  of  his 
meditation  that  he  preserves  and  develops  what  is  best 
in  his  individuality.  Hence  it  is  that  all  founders  of 
religious  orders  are  so  insistent  on  fidelity  to  medita- 
tion.    They,  too,  exercise  in  their  own  sphere  the  wis- 


^  Some  day,  let  us  hope,  a  Catholic,  gifted  with  clear  vision  and 
eloquent  pen,  will  be  inspired  to  develop  this  topic  in  a  manner 
worthy  of  its  social  significance.  Why  is  it,  for  example,  that  St. 
Catherine,  a  virgin  of  an  obscure  family  in  Siena,  should  become 
the  counsellor  of  popes?  Why  should  the  humble  and  unlettered 
member  of  the  Third  Order  of  St.  Dominic  be  chosen  a  special 
patron  by  St.  Aloysius,  a  Jesuit  of  noble  birth?  The  whole  series 
of  Meditations  for  Sundays  and  Festivals  written  by  St.  John 
Baptist  de  la  Salle  is  an  excellent  presentation  of  vedues  that 
are  at  once  social  and  pedagogical. 

^  See  above,  pp.  294  fP. 


3S4  Faith  as  a  Social  Force. 

dom  of  sociologists ;  and,  consequently,  they  maintain 
that  since,  outside  of  sacramental  grace,  meditation  is 
the  chief  source  of  individual  ''variation,"  in  the  best 
meaning  of  that  term,  so  it  is  also  the  chief  guarantee 
of  progress  for  the  community/  Lest,  however,  the 
individual  variations  should  become  so  pronounced  as 
to  interfere  with  the  harmony  of  the  group  and  em- 
barrass co-operative  work,  whether  manual  or  mental, 
many  of  the  daily  spiritual  exercises  in  the  novitiate 
have  for  their  secondary  purpose  the  strengthening  of 
the  community  spirit.^  Five  centuries  ago  the  saintly 
Thomas  a  Kempis  summed  up  in  a  few  words  the  con- 
centrated wisdom  of  eleven  centuries  of  community 
life:^ 

"Observe  the  good  common  medium  of  those  with  whom  thou 
livest.  Thou  oughtest  not  to  beget  weariness  or  tedium  in  others, 
but  keep  the  common  way,  according  to  the  institution  of  supe- 
riors ;  and  rather  accommodate  thyself  to  the  utility  of  others  than 
follow  thine  own  devotion  and  affection." 

Just  as  individuality  is  fostered  and  strengthened  by 
faith  as  developed  by  the  daily  meditation,  so  the  com- 
munity spirit  is  conserved  by  the  exercise  of  fraternal 

*  Father  Faber  gives  a  pertinent  passage  (Spiritual  Conferences, 
p.  274) :  "The  lesson  is,  that  holiness  depends  less  upon  what  we 
do  than  upon  how  we  do  it.  [These  words  embody  the  essential 
distinction  between  the  artist  and  the  copyist — or  even  the  ama- 
teur.] ...  It  sounds  commonplace  enough;  but  it  has  suffi- 
cient matter  in  it  for  the  study  of  a  life  and  for  the  practice  of 
eternity." 

*  The  Catholic  Church,  in  condemning  heresy,  exercises  a  similar 
office  on  a  higher  and  more  extended  plane. — Cf.  note  3,  pp.  320  ff. 

^Imitation,  Bk.  IV,  Chap.  X,  7. 


Faith  as  a  Social  Force  in  the  Novitiate,      325 

charity  which,  in  its  turn,  is  based  on  faith/  The 
spiritual  life  of  both  novice  and  community,  of  both 
individual  and  group,  is  nurtured  at  the  fountain  of 
faith.  With  a  view  then  to  appreciate  more  fully  the 
blessings  conferred  bj^  Christian  and  religious  faith,  it 
is  well  to  ponder  the  advantages  which  flow  from  nat- 
ural faith  also.  Both  have  been  given  eloquent  expres- 
sion by  Chateaubriand  in  the  following  passage: 

"And  what  were  the  virtues  so  highly  recommended  by  the  sages 
of  Greece?  Fortitude,  temperance,  and  prudence.  None  but 
Jesus  Christ  could  teach  the  world  that  faith,  hope,  and  charity 
are  virtues  alike  adapted  to  the  ignorance  and  the  wretchedness 
of  man.  It  was  undoubtedly  a  stupendous  wisdom  that  pointed  out 
faith  to  us  as  the  source  of  all  the  virtues.  There  is  no  power  but 
in  conviction.  .  .  .  What  wonders  a  small  band  of  troops  per- 
suaded of  the  abilities  of  their  leader  is  capable  of  achieving! 
Thirty-five  thousand  Greeks  follow  Alexander  to  the  conquest  of 
the  world;  Lacedaemon  commits  her  destiny  to  the  hands  of 
Lycurgus,  and  Lacedaemon  becomes  the  wisest  of  cities;  Babylon 
believes  that  she  is  formed  for  greatness,  and  greatness  crowns 
her  confidence;  an  oracle  gives  the  empire  of  the  universe  to  the 
Romans,  and  the  Romans  obtain  the  empire  of  the  universe; 
Columbus  alone,  among  all  his  contemporaries,  persists  in  believing 
in  the  existence  of  a  new  world,  and  a  new  world  rises  from  the 
bosom  of  the  deep.  Friendship,  patriotism,  love,  every  noble 
sentiment,  is  likewise  a  species  of  faith.  Because  they  had  faith, 
a  Codrus,  a  Pylades,  a  Regulus,  an  Arria,  perform  prodigies. 

"For  the  same  reason  they  who  believe  nothing,  who  treat  all 
the  convictions  of  the  soul  as  illusions,  who  consider  every  noble 
action  as  insanity,  and  look  with  pity  upon  the  warm  imagination 
and  tender  sensibility  of  genius — for  the  same  reason  such  hearts 
will  never  achieve  anything  great  or  generous;  they  have  faith 
only  in  matter  and  in  death,  and  they  are  already  insensible  as 
the  one  and  cold  and  icy  as  the  other. 

"In  the  language  of  ancient  chivalry,  to  pledge  one's  faith  was 


•Cf.  Matt.  XXV,  31-46;  Luke  x,  29-37. 


326  Faith  as  a  Social  Force, 

synonymous  with  all  the  prodigies  of  honor.  Roland,  Duquesclin, 
Bayard,  were  faithful  knights.  .  .  .  Shall  we  mention  the  mar- 
tyrs, 'who,'  to  use  the  words  of  St.  Ambrose,  'without  armies,  with- 
out legions,  vanquished  tyrants,  assuaged  the  fury  of  lions,  took 
from  the  fire  its  vehemence,  and  from  the  sword  its  edge'?  Con- 
sidered in  this  point  of  view,  faith  is  so  formidable  a  power  that, 
if  it  were  applied  to  evil  purposes,  it  would  convulse  the  world. 
There  is  nothing  that  a  man  who  is  under  the  influence  of  a  pro- 
found conviction,  and  who  submits  his  reason  implicitly  to  the 
direction  of  another  is  not  capable  of  performing.  This  proves 
that  the  most  eminent  virtues,  when  separated  from  God  and 
taken  in  their  merely  moral  relations,  border  on  the  greatest 
vices.    .    .    . 

"Of  this  truth  we  shall  be  thoroughly  convinced  if  we  consider 
faith  in  reference  to  human  affairs,  but  a  faith  which  is  the  off- 
spring of  religion.  From  faith  proceed  all  the  virtues  of  society, 
since  it  is  true,  according  to  the  unanimous  acknowledgment  of 
men,  that  the  doctrine  which  commands  the  belief  in  a  God  who 
will  reward  and  punish  is  the  main  pillar  both  of  morals  and  of 
civil  government."  ^ 

Where  the  Christian  spirit  has  taken  deep  root  and 
the  Church  has  not  been  hampered  in  the  exercise  of 
her  functions,  there  religious  orders  have  attained 
vigorous  growth.  Although  they  may  not  be  essential 
to  the  Church,  they  are  an  index  of  her  vitality.^ 
Hence  it  is  not  surprising  that  in  times  of  social  up- 
heaval they  should  be  the  special  objects  of  bitter  per- 
secution. Their  very  presence  in  times  of  peace  teaches 
an  eloquent  lesson  on  the  life  to  come,  of  which  even 
non-Catholics  are  not  unmindful.  Their  removal  con- 
fessedly lowers  the  moral  tone  of  society  and  obscures 
its  perception  of  spiritual  ideals.     It  is  in  the  novitiate 

^Genius  of  Christianity  (tr.  C.  I.  White),  pp.  95,  96. 
^  This  position  is  clearly   demonstrated   by   Balmes    (European 
Civilization,  Chap.  XXXVIII). 


Faith  as  a  Social  Force  in  the  School,       327 

that  religious  receive  the  training  which  enables  them 
to  exercise  this  elevating  influence.  Consequently,  even 
if  the  aim  of  education  were  merely  "social  service," 
the  novitiate  would  deserve  well  of  society/ 

Article  II, — Faith  as  a  Social  Force  in  the  School,^ 

Although  our  treatment  of  the  sociological  aspects 
of  faith  must  be  so  greatly  restricted  by  the  limitations 
of  this  book  as  to  be  merely  suggestive,  yet  it  is  neces- 
sary to  give  some  indications  of  the  meaning  of  faith 
for  the  school.  Our  whole  discussion  points  to  this. 
There  is  a  threefold  sense  in  which  education  is  a  social 
process.^  First  of  all,  by  this  means  society  preserves 
the  culture  of  the  past.  In  so  doing,  it  makes  a  two- 
fold act  of  faith:  (1)  an  act  of  faith  on  the  part  of 
the  pupil,  who  believes  in  his  teacher;  {%)  an  act  of 
faith  on  the  part  of  the  teacher,  who  believes  that 
teaching  is  a  mission  or  profession.  If  he  be  Catholic, 
he  will  reckon  it  an  apostolate.  The  thoroughness  with 
which  the  work  of  education  is  done  determines  the  de- 
gree of  progress  made  possible  for  the  rising  genera- 
tion. Indeed,  this  truth  is  but  an  extension  to  society 
of  the  principle  which  we  have  already  found  valid  for 
the  individual  in  the  order  of  grace  as  well  as  in  that 
of  nature;  viz.,  that  the  regular  and  perfect  fulfilment 
of  daily  duties  is  the  indispensable  condition  of  those 
"variations"    which   make   for    advance    and   improve- 

^  See  above,  pp.  79-82. 

^  Cf.  pp.  133  ff.,  137  fF.,  above. 

"  Cf.  Irving  King,  Social  Aspects  of  Education,  p.  2. 


328  Faith  as  a  Social  Force, 

ment.  From  this  principle  follow  certain  consequences. 
The  school  curriculum  should  not,  indeed,  be  over- 
crowded, but  it  should  be  comprehensive, — embracing, 
according  to  the  ability  of  the  pupils,  studies  repre- 
sentative of  our  fivefold  spiritual  inheritance;  viz.,  re- 
ligion, literature,  sesthetics,  science,  and  social  institu- 
tions/ Besides  the  content  of  the  curriculum,  there  is 
also  the  method  of  imparting  it.  This  calls  not  onl}'^ 
for  correlation  of  the  different  branches,  but  also,  from 
the  Christian  standpoint,  for  the  vitalizing  of  all  by 
the  spirit  of  faith.^ 

In  the  second  place,  the  school  is  obviously  a  group, 
and  is  subject  to  the  essential  conditions  of  group  life. 
It  is  therefore  to  be  expected  that  its  work  will  be  more 
efficient  when  directed  by  teachers  who  have  some 
knowledge  of  the  meaning  of  social  institutions.  Ac- 
cording to  Catholic  philosophers  and  theologians,  there 
are  three  "perfect"  societies :  two  in  the  natural  order, 
viz.,  the  family  and  the  State;  and  one  in  the  super- 
natural order,  the  Church,  for  each  of  these  institutions 


^  Butler,  The  Meaning  of  Education,  pp.  17  ff. ;  Dr.  Shields, 
Psychology  of  Education,  Lesson  IX,  "Balances  in  Develop- 
ment," pp.  111-114. 

2  See  above,  pp.  64,  65,  84,  85,  130,  131,  140-145.— Cardinal  New- 
man (Sermons  Preached  on  Various  Occasions,  V,  "Dispositions 
for  Faith,"  especially  pp.  69-73)  calls  attention  to  the  com- 
mon and  fatal  error  of  the  "world"  in  constituting  itself  judge  of 
religious  truth  without  any  preparation  of  heart  for  the  reception 
of  that  truth.  We  have  seen  that  the  religious  novitiate  does  ef- 
fectually prepare  the  heart  of  the  novice  for  the  proper  reception 
of  divine  truth.  What  the  novitiate  has  done  for  him,  the  young 
religious  teacher,  in  due  proportion,  seeks  to  do  for  his  pupils. 
Only  under  such  or  analogous  conditions  can  the  truths  of  divine 
faith  be  and  continue  to  be  social  forces, 


Faith  as  a  Social  Force  in  the  School,       329 

is  complete  within  its  own  sphere/  Since  without  the 
family  there  could  be  neither  State  nor  Church  as  we 
know  them,  it  is  the  duty  of  the  teacher  to  use  the 
means  at  his  disposal  for  the  strengthening  of  family 
ties.  He  will  thereby  deserve  well  of  both  State  and 
Church.  If  the  teacher  be  Christian,  and  especially  if 
he  be  also  a  religious,  he  is  bound  to  prepare  his  pupils, 
according  to  his  position  and  opportunity  not  only  to 
fulfill  worthily  their  duties  as  members  of  the  State 
and  of  the  Church  here  on  earth,  but  also  to  become 
"fellow-citizens  with  the  saints  and  the  domestics  of 
God"  in  heaven.^  In  the  third  place,  since  the  pupil 
is  by  nature  a  social  being,  the  social  viewpoint  has  to 
be  kept  before  him  if  he  is  to  be  trained  for  the  fulfill- 
ment of  his  social  duties  as  they  arise  in  life.  This 
viewpoint  reveals  a  threefold  service  which  is  at  once 
the  condition  and  the  cause  of  genuine  development  in 
the  pupil.  Service  at  home  may  be  a  good  preliminary 
to  "social  service;"  while  to  her  own  children  as  also 
to  the  world  at  large  the  Catholic  Church  proposes 
the  example  of  Him  who  said:  "I  am  among  you  as  he 
that  serveth."  ' 

From  what  has  been  said  in  the  preceding  pages  it 
is  clear  that  the  novice  is  trained  to  some  appreciation 
of  these  three  social  phases  of  school  life.  In  a  special 
way  also  has  he  been  made  to  realize  the  value  of  what 
we  have  called  the  "summation  of  stimuli,"  *  whereby 


^  See  also  pp.  316  f .,  above. 

»  Eph.  ii,  19. 

"Luke  xxii,  27. 

*  See  above,  pp.  273  f . 


Faith  as  a  Social  Force, 


the  lessons  of  faith  imparted  and  practised  in  one  ex- 
ercise add  to  the  value  of  those  that  follow.  He  sees, 
therefore,  that  the  Sunday  school  is  not  adequate  for 
proper  training  in  Christian  faith,  nor  does  he  find 
such  a  compromise  as  that  implied  in  the  "Gary  sys- 
tem" to  be  much  more  satisfactory.  He  knows  that 
religious  belief  should  be  part  of  the  very  life  of  the 
pupil:  it  should  guide  his  intellect,  strengthen  his  will, 
purify  and  ennoble  his  affections.  He  has  learned  that 
all  vital  progress  is  conditioned  by  a  due  restraint  of 
the  less  perfect  or  less  complex  powers  and  functions. 
If  the  tree  is  to  bear  abundant  fruit,  the  sap  must  not 
be  allowed  to  run  waste  in  the  production  of  foliage 
only.  In  the  animal,  even  the  vegetal,  or  purely  or- 
ganic, functions  minister  to  sensation  and  motion;  and 
these  in  turn,  as  found  in  man,  are  valuable  aids  to  in- 
tellect and  will.  When,  however,  the  novice  views  man 
as  a  being  having  a  supernatural  destiny,  he  is  forced, 
by  parity  of  reasoning,  to  conclude  that  all  man's  nat- 
ural gifts  should  subserve  the  interests  of  the  super- 
natural life.  Hence  he  maintains  that  a  certain  meas- 
ure of  restraint,  of  self-discipline,  of  self-denial, — in 
other  words,  of  "inhibition" — is  a  necessary  factor  in 
the  daily  life  of  the  pupil  in  school  as  well  as  at  home. 
A  "religion  of  feeling"  ^  he  adjudges  incompetent  for 
such  a  purpose,  and  opposed  to  the  true  social  interests 
of  the  young.  It  is  too  individual,  too  subjective,  and 
too  variable.  It  lacks  an  objective  standard  of  values. 
While  the  novice  learns  from  his  own  experience,  as 


'  See  above,  pp.  111-113. 


Faith  as  a  Social  Force  in  the  School,       331 

well  as  from  divine  revelation,  that  a  religion  of  feeling 
will  not  suffice  for  any  future  pupils  he  may  have,  he 
perceives  also  that  a  "religion  of  understanding"  is  not 
the  natural  fruit  of  genuine  doubt.  The  maxim,  "Pre- 
vention is  better  than  cure,"  is  valid  for  health  of  soul 
as  well  as  health  of  body.  Hence  the  treatment  favored 
by  the  religious  teacher  is  a  spiritual  prophylaxis. 
Not  a  few  educators  who  have  made  investigations  into 
the  religious  education  of  children  ^  hold  that  the  tenth 
year  marks  the  turning  point  from  so-called  "primitive 
credulit}^,"  or  belief  on  authority  alone,  to  the  attitude 
of  inquir}^  and  even  of  doubt  and  distrust.  According 
to  the  present  discipline  of  the  Catholic  Church,  chil- 
dren are  admitted  to  the  sacraments  of  confession  and 
communion  before  they  have  reached  this  age,  and 
therefore  they  have  at  hand  a  special  divine  help  to 
meet  this  period  of  disintegration.^  As  the  pupils  ap- 
proach high  school  age,  the  wise  and  zealous  teacher, 
recalling  his  own  studies  in  the  novitiate,  will  gradually 
adopt  the  plan  used  with  so  much  success  by  St.  Fran- 
cis de  Sales.     This  great  doctor  of  the  Church  disliked 

^Cf.  J.  B.  Pratt,  op.  cit.,  pp.  206  ff.,  who  discusses  several  of 
these  investigations.  So  far  as  we  know,  the  sources  are  all  non- 
Catholic.     That,  however,  does  not  destroy  their  value. 

*A  very  suggestive  plan  to  strengthen  the  spirit  of  faith  in 
pupils  from  their  earliest  school  years  is  worked  out  in  Dr. 
Shields'  Catholic  Education  Series.  The  First  Book  appeals  to 
the  instincts  of  the  child  and  draws  lessons  from  Nature.  The 
Second  Book  develops  the  idea  of  law  and  inculcates  obedience. 
The  Third  sets  forth  the  work  of  Redemption  and  the  sacra- 
mental system  of  the  Church.  For  the  relation  of  this  method  to 
the  teaching  of  catechism,  see  discussion  by  Brother  Chrysostom, 
Catholic  Education  Association  Proceedings  (Cincinnati  Meet- 
ing), 1908,  pp.  227-231. 


332  Faith  as  a  Social  Force, 

controversy  and  rated  it  very  low  as  a  means  of  con- 
version. Yet  he  is  credited  with  bringing  72,000  Cal- 
vinists  into  the  Church/  He  preferred  a  constructive 
plan  (enforced  by  personal  practice  of  the  faith) — 
viz.,  the  presentation  in  clear  and  persuasive  language 
of  the  true  teaching  of  the  Church  on  the  point  of  real 
or  supposed  attack,  and  of  the  place  of  this  doctrine  in 
the  whole  econom}^  of  the  Church.^  The  result  was  that 
without  realizing  the  full  significance  of  his  method, 
his  hearers  found  themselves  armed  against  false  and 
dangerous  doctrines.  If  we  admit  that  a  "primary 
wave'^  of  doubt  may  sweep  over  the  youth  at  fourteen 
or  fifteen,  "followed  by  two  or  three  years  of  compara- 
tive calm,"  and  that  "for  many  men  the  great  wave  of 
doubt  comes  at  about  eighteen,  and  for  many  women 
about  two  years  earlier,"  ^  then  we  must  grant  that 


^  Cf .  The  Spirit  of  St.  Francis  de  Sales  (tr.  from  the  French  of 
Bishop  Camus),  p.  5. — The  following  passage  contains  sound  ad- 
vice for  teacher  as  well  as  preacher:  "It  was  not  enough,  in  our 
Saint's  opinion,  that  a  preacher  should  aim  at  doing  good  in  a 
general  way;  but  he  should  always  have  some  particular  point  in 
view;  as,  for*  instance,  the  knowledge  of  a  truth,  the  clearing  up 
of  some  doubt,  the  destruction  of  a  vice,  or  the  practice  of  a 
virtue"  (p.  87). 

2  Op.  cit.,  p.  279. 

^  Cf.  Pratt,  op.  cit.,  pp.  214,  215,  who  tersely  sums  up  the  situa- 
tion in  these  words:  "More  than  two-thirds  of  Starbuck's  respond- 
ents (see  his  Psychology  of  Religion)  had  passed  through  a  period 
of  skepticism,  and  G.  Stanley  Hall  reports  that  in  over  700  returns 
from  young  men  religiously  reared  and  in  Protestant  colleges 
there  were  very  few  who  had  not  wrestled  with  serious  doubts  on 
religious  questions."  Although  Professor  Pratt  is  concerned  with 
Protestant  conditions,  his  words  may  well  give  pause  to  Catholic 
teachers,  whose  pupils  are  human  also. — One  wonders  why  the 
assistant  professor  of  philosophy  in  Williams  College  (such  was 
the  author's  position*  when  he  wrote  the  book)  did  not  resist  the 


Faith  as  a  Social  Force  in  the  School.       333 

to  the  religious  teacher  a  really  apostolic  mission  is 
entrusted. 

Aside  from  such  a  consideration  of  studies  as  will 
strengthen  the  faith  of  the  pupils,  the  future  teacher, 
who  is  now  in  training  in  the  novitiate,  will  find  that 
a  regular  recurrence  of  religious  suggestions  will  prove 
most  fruitful  in  building  up  a  "habit"  of  faith.  This 
habit  of  faith  is  really  the  infused  theological  virtue 
of  faith  as  developed  by  regular  and  frequent  acts  of 
faith.  The  pedagogical  significance  of  its  forma- 
tion early  in  life  appears  from  the  fact  that,  accord- 
ing to  biologists,  our  latest  acquisitions  are  the  first 
to   disappear   from   mental   life.^      The   hourly    pray- 


temptation  to  scoff  at  mediaeval  monks  (p.  296)  and  mediaeval 
"visionaries"  (p.  297).  Even  capable  professors  of  history  may 
speculate  in  vain  about  the  premises  from  which  he  infers  that  the 
religion  of  mediaeval  Christians  was  a  typical  phase  of  "primitive 
credulity"  (pp.  149,  150).  By  what  authority ,  we  ask,  does  this 
professor  of  philosophy  justify  this  statement:  "The  Middle  Ages, 
as  every  one  knows  [sic],  were  pre-eminently  characterized  by  the 
dominance  of  authority  in  all  fields  of  thought"  [sic]  ?  Moreover, 
St.  Augustine  did  not  belong  to  even  the  "early"  Middle  Ages; 
much  less  did  he  give  "quia  impossibile"  as  his  motive  for  belief. 
Were  Professor  Pratt  to  turn  back  the  pages  of  history  to  a 
period  three  centuries  before  the  time  of  St.  Augustine,  he  might 
find  in  TertuUian  of  the  second  century  some  connection  with 
"quia  impossibile";  but  the  connection  is  distinctly  not  mediaeval. 
Cf.  H.  Pope,  "Faith,"  Catholic  Encyclopedia,  Vol.  V,  pp.  753,  754. 
To  correct  the  professor's  defective  presentation  of  the  cosmo- 
logical  argument  and  the  argument  from  design  we  would  suggest 
such  a  book  as  Boedder's  Natural  Theology  (see  Bk.  I,  Chap.  V). 
^Cf.  H.  H.  Donaldson  (The  Growth  of  the  Brain,  p.  331): 
"When  it  is  remembered  that  the  last  developed  cells  [of  the 
brain]  are  the  smallest,  and  have  but  a  small  quantity  of  cyto- 
plasm, that  the  very  tardiness  of  their  development  indicates  their 
environment  to  have  been  less  favorable,  and  finally  that  those 
conditions  which  retard  growth  also  favor  senescence,  the  hypoth- 
esis appears  plausible"   [viz.,  that  the  capabilities  of  the  central 


334  Faith  as  a  Social  Force, 

ers  ^  in  the  classes  conducted  by  the  Brothers  of  the 
Christian  Schools  are  a  distinct  reminiscence  of  the  se- 
quence of  religious  exercises  in  the  novitiate;  the  admo- 
nition given  every  half  hour  to  remember  the  holy  pres- 
ence of  God  is  an  adaptation  to  the  pupils'  capacity  of 
that  remote  preparation  for  mental  prayer  which  is  so 
significant  for  the  development  of  the  novice.^  Even  the 
annual  retreat,  one  of  the  most  efficacious  means  for 
the  nurture  of  the  spiritual  life  in  the  religious,  is 
copied  in  the  retreat  made  by  children  when  preparing 
for  their  first  communion,  and  in  the  yearly  retreat 
now  generally  given  to  students  of  upper  grammar, 
high  school,  and  college  grades.^ 

If,  however,  we  seek  to  translate  into  the  language 
of  sociology  the  special  purpose  both  of  the  Catholic 
school  and  of  the  novitiate — the  latter  is  practically  the 


nervous  system  tend  to  disappear  in  an  order  inverse  to  that  in 
which  they  developed]. — This  view  of  biologists  seems  also  to  har- 
monize with  the  experience  of  missionary  priests,  who  find  that 
when  persons  have  been  well  trained  in  the  practice  of  their  faith 
when  young,  they  are  more  likely,  even  after  years  of  neglect,  to 
return  to  their  religious  duties.  In  the  words  of  one  such  peni- 
tent, "When  one  has  had  a  good  Catholic  mother  and  has  attended 
the  Christian  Brothers'  school,  it  is  hard  for  him  to  keep  away 
from  God." 

^  See  Exercises  of  Piety  in  use  in  the  Christian  Schools. 

^  It  is  also  an  adaptation  of  the  "summation  of  stimuli"  spoken 
of  on  pp.  273  f.  and  329  f. 

^  The  late  Brother  Exuperian,  assistant  superior  general  of  the 
Brothers  of  the  Christian  Schools,  inaugurated  in  1882  a  regular 
system  of  retreats  for  Circles  of  Catholic  Young  Men.  {Bio- 
graphical Sketch  of  Brother  Exuperian,  pp.  124-129.)  In  recent 
years  a  similar  plan  has  been  put  into  successful  operation  in  this 
country.  The  retreats  for  men  have  their  counterpart  in  the  re- 
treats and  recollections  given  to  women  in  many  convents. 


Faith  as  a  Social  Force  in  the  School.       335 

chief  source  whence  the  former  draws  its  strength — ^we 
must   call   it   Christian   "like-mindedness."      The   term 
itself  we  owe  to  Professor  Giddings/     The  qualifying 
epithet  which  we  use,  marks  the  higher  plane  on  which 
we  study  the  principle  of  which  he  has  been  so  ardent 
an  advocate.    The  idea  is  at  least  as  old  as  Christianity 
itself.     For  its  realization  the  Saviour  Himself  prayed 
with  all  the  ardor  of  divine  zeal  guided  by  infinite  wis- 
dom, when  at  the  Last  Supper  He  addressed  to  His 
eternal  Father  this  touching  appeal  for  His  apostles 
and   for   all   Christian   teachers:   "And  not   for   them 
only  do  I  pray,  but  for  them  also  who  through  their 
word  shall  believe  in  Me;  that  they  may  all  be  one,  as 
Thou,  Father,  in  Me,  and  I  in  Thee :  that  they  also  may 
be  one  in  Us;  that  the  world  may  believe  that  Thou 
hast  sent  Me."  ^     Whether  in  heaven  or  on  earth,  can 
there  be  any  "like-mindedness"  more  sublime  or  more 
devoted  than  this?    This  is  the  ideal,  the  "social"  ideal, 
which  the  religious  novitiate  adumbrates.     It  is  rooted 
and  grounded  in  the  first  of  all  mysteries,  the  mystery 
of  the  Blessed  Trinty.     This  is  the  ideal  which  religious 
teachers,  individually  in  their  classes  and  collectively 
in  their  school,  make  the  great  goal  of  their  endeavors. 
In   so   far   as   they   really   approach   their  ideal,   they 
truly  help   to   make  the   Church  militant   on   earth   a 
genuine  preparation  for  the  Church  triumphant,  where 
both  individuals  and  groups  will  possess  the  most  per- 
fect   "like-mindedness"    compatible   with   the    spiritual 


^  Elements  of  Sociology,  Chaps.  XI-XV. 
2  John  xvii,  20,  21. 


Faith  as  a  Social  Force, 


progress  which  they  have  made  here  below  in  the  great 
school  of  earthly  life/ 

These  considerations  suggest  another  phase  of  the 
social  working  of  faith  which  is  cultivated  in  Catholic 
schools.^  This  is  the  organization  of  sodalities  or  as- 
sociations having  a  religious  or  a  charitable  purpose. 
Through  them  it  is  possible  to  initiate  the  pupils  into 
those  Christian  forms  of  social  service  which  find  ex- 
pression, for  example,  in  the  Society  for  the  Propaga- 
tion of  the  Faith  and  in  the  Conferences  of  St.  Vincent 
de  Paul.  By  fidelity  to  the  duties  which  membership 
imposes,  these  young  clients  of  the  Church  find  their 
faith  strengthened  and  developed.  Moreover,  by  God's 
mercy,  not  a  few  of  them  receive  the  germ  of  a  vocation 
to  a  higher  life.  Because  they  have  been  faithful  over 
a  few  things,  they  are  now  about  to  be  placed  over 
many  things.^  This  is  a  "variation"  which  gives  un- 
feigned delight  to  the  zealous  teacher.  It  is  also  a  very 
noble  and  Christian  application  of  that  principle  of 
"persistent  imitation"  which  we  have  already  encoun- 
tered more  than  once.*     It  is  likewise  an  effective  an- 


^  Cf .  Eph.  iv,  5,  6 :  "One  Lord,  one  faith,  one  baptism.  One  God 
and  Father  of  all,  who  is  above  all,  and  through  all,  and  in  us  all." 
Cf.  also  St.  Augustine's  maxim:  "In  necessariis  unitas,  in  dubiis 
libertas,  in  omnibus  charitas." 

^  If  a  plan  were  organized  whereby  missionary  priests  could 
place  at  the  service  of  Catholic  teachers  what  their  experience  tells 
them  are  the  chief  sources  of  the  loss  or  the  weakening  of  religious 
faith,  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  its  growing  strength  and  vigor  on 
the  other,  the  religious  training  given  in  the  school  would  be  much 
more  efficient.  In  this  work  the  Catholic  press  could  co-operate 
to  the  mutual  benefit  of  press  and  pupils. 

^  Matt.  XXV,  21. 

'  See  above,  pp.  272,  276,  note  2,  283. 


Faith  as  a  Social  Force  in  the  School,       337 

swer  to  the  attack  made  by  Sir  Francis  Galton  on  the 
celibacy  of  religious  orders.^  In  such  cases,  Father 
Gerrard's  words  are  doubly  verified:  "What  the  virgin 
sacrifices  in  the  joy  and  glory  of  bodily  generation,  she 
gains  a  hundredfold  in  the  joy  and  glory  of  spiritual 
generation."  ^  Is  not  this  another  illustration  of  that 
principle  of  development  which  we  have  been  consider- 
ing throughout  this  book,  whereby  the  material  and 
sensile  becomes  the  symbol  of  the  spiritual,  nay  even 
of  the  divine? 

The  most  important  work  in  which  the  religious 
teacher  can  engage  is  the  work  of  strengthening  and 
developing  the  Christian  faith  of  his  pupils.  It  is 
therefore  for  the  worthy  performance  of  this  function 
that  the  novice  must  prepare  himself  by  the  exact  and 
fervent  discharge  of  his  various  duties  in  the  novitiate. 
If  he  is  later  to  diffuse  an  atmosphere  of  faith  about 
him  in  the  schoolroom,  he  must  now  sedulously  culti- 
vate the  spirit  of  faith  in  his  daily  life.  Let  him  recall 
that  divine  faith  is  a  "social"  bond;  that  to  it  we  owe 
the  true  brotherhood  of  man  as  well  as  the  fatherhood 
of  God.  Let  him  know  that,  according  to  sociologists, 
the  group  spirit  is  stronger  in  small  groups,  and  that, 
in  consequence,  his  future  work  in  the  Christian  educa- 
tion of  youth  will  be  helped  rather  than  hindered  by 
the  limitations  of  the  classroom.  All  the  great  found- 
ers of  religious  orders  began  their  work  for  the  propa- 
gation or  the  development  of  faith  by  gathering  about 


^  See  above,  pp.  72,  73. 

'  A  Challenge  to  the  Time-Spirit,  p.  22, 


338  Faith  as  a  Social  Force. 

them  a  small  band  of  devoted  followers  and  imbuing 
them  with  the  same  spirit  of  zeal  and  sacrifice.  In  this 
thej  but  followed  the  example  set  by  the  very  Founder 
of  Christianity.  In  his  own  more  modest  sphere,  the 
religious  teacher  strives  to  imitate  the  founder  of  his 
own  order  and  in  so  doing  to  reproduce  in  himself  and 
in  his  pupils  the  spirit  of  Christ  Himself.  If  in  attain- 
ing this  result  he  secures  the  earnest  co-operation  of 
those  of  his  pupils  who  have  most  influence  over  their 
comrades,  he  is  doubly  blessed.  He  fosters  in  the  class- 
room a  spirit  that  is  at  once  Christian  and  apostolic, 
and  he  trains  these  more  promising  pupils  for  the  re- 
sponsible and  meritorious  office  of  Catholic  leadership 
if  they  respond  generously  to  the  opportunities  afforded 
by  nature  and  to  the  solicitations  that  come  from  di- 
vine grace. 

The  novice,  too,  is  preparing  within  his  own  sphere 
to  be  a  leader  of  men.  If  he  remains  faithful  to  his 
trust,  he  will  throughout  life  possess  the  double  ad- 
vantage of  being  at  once  leader  and  follower:  leader, 
for  the  pupils  who  will  be  committed  to  his  care;  fol- 
lower, with  respect  to  the  great  saints  who  are  gone 
before  him  and  who  intercede  for  him  before  the  throne 
of  grace.  His  social  group,  therefore,  whether  viewed 
in  the  natural  or  in  the  supernatural  order,  is  not  lim- 
ited to  his  companions  in  the  novitiate,  nor  even  to  the 
whole  religious  body  to  which  he  belongs.  Neither  are 
its  confines  bounded  by  the  Church  visible  on  earth; 
for  it  includes  also  the  Church  triumphant  in  heaven. 
As  creature,  as  man,  as  Christian  and  as  religious,  the 


Faith  as  a  Social  Force  in  the  School,       389 

novice  is  a  member  of  social  groups  marked  by  increas- 
ing sharpness  in  the  definition  of  their  obligations,  and 
by  increasing  complexity  of  organization.  AH,  how- 
ever, have  their  ultimate  origin  in  God,  and  through 
all,  by  the  grace  of  the  Author  and  Finisher  of  our 
faith,  is  he  to  attain  the  reward  of  social  service  con- 
ceived in  a  Christian  spirit,  embraced  with  Christian 
zeal,  and  executed  with  Christian  fidelity  and  perse- 
verance. 


CHAPTER  X. 


General  Summary. 


In  Book  I  a  comparison  was  instituted  between  the 
Normal  School  and  the  Religious  Novitiate  in  aim, 
curriculum,  method,  spirit,  and  limitations.  Person- 
ality was  found  to  be  the  most  valuable  asset  for  the 
active  or  prospective  teacher.  The  religious  novitiate 
professes  to  develop  the  personality  of  its  subjects  ac- 
cording to  the  standards  of  Christian  faith  and  to 
strengthen  their  faith  itself  by  regular  systematic  ex- 
ercise— one  of  the  chief  means  being  meditation. 

In  Book  II  we  saw  the  danger  lurking  beneath  a  cur- 
rent theory  of  religious  belief,  and  then  considered  the 
nature,  origin,  and  exercise  of  divine  faith  and  some 
of  its  pedagogical  values. 

In  Book  III  we  began  a  more  detailed  examination  of 
these  values.  In  Chapter  VI  we  studied  the  chief  bio- 
logical aspects  of  education,  viz.,  heredity,  environ- 
ment, plasticity,  and  adjustment;  and  then  considered 
some  of  the  relations  existing  between  these  topics  and 
the  truths  of  divine  faith.  In  Chapter  VII, — under  the 
general  title  of  psychological  aspects  of  faith, — per- 
ception, the  learning  process,  habit,  and  the  reflex  arc 
concept  were  treated  first  in  themselves,  then  with  refer- 
ence to  their  pedagogical  significance,  and  finally  in  the 

340 


General  Summary,  341 

light  of  the  special  value  which  they  acquire  from  the 
practice  of  Christian  faith. 

In  Book  IV  we  studied  the  nature,  the  matter,  and 
the  elements  of  meditation  as  a  religious  exercise,  and 
we  discovered  that  the  chief  psychological  processes 
which  we  had  already  considered,  were  actually  included 
and  utilized  in  the  daily  meditation,  one  of  the  chief  ex- 
ercises by  which  the  novice  cultivates  the  spirit  of  faith. 
Furthermore,  in  virtue  of  the  principle  of  the  transfer 
of  training,  the  habit  formed  by  the  diligent  prepara- 
tion and  faithful  practice  of  meditation,  was  found  to 
have  a  genuine  pedagogical  value  which  was  applicable 
to  other  subjects  having  either  a  similar  method,  or 
similar  matter,  or  a  similar  aim. 

In  Book  V  a  rapid  survey  was  taken  of  some  funda- 
mental sociological  aspects  of  education.  The  develop- 
ment of  the  novice  was  found  to  grow  apace  with  his 
assimilation  of  the  community  spirit,  while  the  spiritual 
progress  of  the  community  itself  was  seen  to  depend  on 
the  Christian  acceptance  of  his  responsibility  by  the 
individual  novice.  The  perfection  of  his  individuality,  ^ 
according  to  Christian  ideals,  the  novice  endeavors  to 
effect  by  the  assiduous  practice  of  meditation,  the  great 
conserver  of  religious  faith.  The  group  spirit,  with 
its  community  of  knowledge,  feeling,  and  action,  is  best 
cherished  by  the  diligent  exercise  of  Christian  charity, 
which  also  springs  from  faith.  Christian  and  religious'^ 
faith,  therefore,  is  at  once  the  safeguard  and  the 
strength  of  both  the  novice  as  an  individual  and  the 
order  as  a  society.    In  view  of  the  prominence  given  to- 


342  General  Summary, 

day  to  the  social  aim  of  education,  it  is  opportune  to 
note  this  social  aspect  of  the  pedagogical  value  of  the 
virtue  of  faith  as  developed  in  the  religious  novitiate. 
It  crowns  and  supplements  the  values  which  faith  is  dis- 
covered to  have  when  measured  by  biological  and  psy- 
chological standards. 


L'  ENVOI. 

It  may  be  asked  what  message  the  preceding  pages 
have  for  teachers  in  the  schools  of  our  land.  In  answer, 
let  the  following  points  be  suggested  for  reflection: 

All  educators  concede  to-day  that  "social  service" 
is  at  least  an  aim  (if  not  the  aim)  of  the  educative 
process.  But  the  highest  type  of  social  service  is  in- 
spired, sustained,  and  directed  by  religious  ideals.^ 
Even  where  its  immediate  individual  exponent  does  not 
profess  a  creed,  yet  he  is,  at  times  in  spite  of  himself, 
oftener  unknown  to  himself,  deeply  influenced  by  the 
Christian  atmosphere  in  which  he  lives ;  he  shares  in  the 
spiritual  heritage  bequeathed  him  and  his  fellows  from 
the  ages  of  faith.  Even  if  Christian  dogma  be  for  him 
like  the  light  still  coming  to  our  planet  from  extinct 
stars,  yet  it  actually  does  guide  his  conduct.  Now  if, 
even  when  supported  by  this  social  aid,  he  often  finds 
it  difficult  to  pay  his  meed  of  social  service,  let  him  be- 
ware lest,  by  depriving  the  younger  generation  not 
merely  of  religious  truth,  but  also  of  the  religious  af- 
fections that  spring  from  it,  he  blight  the  practice  of 
righteous  living  and  destroy  the  vitality  of  those  ethi- 
cal ideals  by  which  alone  genuine  individual  and  social 
development  is  made  possible. 

The  personality  of  the  pupil  may  be  shaped  by  the 
teacher,  but  the  teacher's  personality  must  be  doubly 

^  Cf.  Balfour,  Foundations  of  Belief,  pp.  331,  332. 

343 


344  L'  Envoi. 

protected  if  it  is  to  withstand  the  insidious  attacks  of 
degenerate  or  debased  social  ideals.  Our  teachers  are, 
or  should  aim  to  become,  "the  salt  of  the  earth.  But 
if  the  salt  lose  its  savor,  wherewith  shall  it  be  salted?"  ^ 
One  means  of  developing  and  conserving  the  person- 
ality of  the  teacher  is  presented  in  the  foregoing  pages. 
It  is  a  means  that  has  stood  the  crucial  test  of  ages ; 
but  it  demands  persistent  attention  and  unflagging  de- 
votedness  on  the  part  of  the  teacher.  Is  it  impossible 
for  our  day  and  generation  to  profit  by  the  salutary 
lesson? 

Recurring  to  the  reflex  art  concept,^  let  us  hope  that 
the  ten  chapters  of  this  book  have  supplied  the  first  ele- 
ment of  the  triad  and  even  favored  the  second.  But 
the  third  element,  the  reaction,  must  come  from  the 
teacher  and  from  those  who  are  interested  in  the 
teacher's  work.     What  will  their  answer  be? 


^Matt.  V,  13. 

2  See  pp.  230  ff.,  above. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY/ 

(Chief  Works  Consulted,) 

Achille,  Fr^re,  F.  S.  C.  Le  Nouveau  Vade-Mecvm  du  jetm  Insti- 
tuteur,  3e  6d.,  Namur,  1892. 

Agathon,  Fr^re,  F.  S.  C.  (tr.  Rev.  H.  Pettier,  S.  J.).  The  Twelve 
Virtues  of  a  Good  Teacher,  New  York,  1890. 

Allies,  T.  W.  The  Formation  of  Christendom,  3  vols.,  London, 
1866. 

American  Psychological  Association.  Report  of  the  Committee 
on  the  Academic  Status  of  Psychology.  The  AcadewAc 
Status  of  Psychology  in  the  Normal  Schools,  Princeton,  1916. 

Ames,  E.  A.  The  Psychology  of  Religious  Experience,  Boston. 
1910. 

Angell,  J.  R.  Chapters  from  Modern  Psychology,  New  York, 
1912;  Psychology,  4th  ed..  New  York,  1908. 

Arbaugh,  W.  B.  "Moral  Education  and  Training  with  a  Sug- 
gested Course  of  Study,"  in  C.  H.  Johnson's  High  School 
Education,  New  York,  1912. 

Aristotle.  Ethica  Nicomachcea;  Nicomachean  Ethics  (tr.  Rev.  D. 
P.  Chase),  Oxford,  1847,  1865;  De  Anima;  De  Physica. 

Arnold,  M.     Culture  and  Anarchy,  New  York,  1908. 

Augustine,  St.     Opera;  Confessions. 

Azarias,  Brother,  F.  S.  C.  Essays  Educational,  Chicago,  1896 ; 
Essays  Philosophical,  Chicago,  1896;  Phases  of  Thought  and 
Criticism,,  Boston,  1892;  An  Essay  Contributing  to  a  Phi- 
losophy of  Literature,  7th  ed.,  Philadelphia,  1899. 

Bagley,  W.  C.     The  Educative  Process,  New  York,  1905. 
Bain,  A.     Education  as  a  Science,  New  York,   1878;   The  Emo- 
tions and  the  Will,  3d  ed.,  New  York,  1876. 


^  This  bibliography  does  not  profess  to  be  complete  or  ex- 
haustive. It  contains  tv/o  kinds  of  references,  viz.,  books  suited 
to  the  special  student  and  books  that  meet  the  needs  of  the  gen- 
eral reader.  With  a  view  to  extend  its  usefulness,  English  trans- 
lations of  foreign  works  are  also  listed. 

345 


846  Bibliography, 

Bainvel,  J.  V.    La  Foi  et  Vacte  de  Foi,  Paris,  1908. 

Baldwin,  J.  M.  Dictionary  of  Philosophy  and  Psychology,  New 
York,  1901,  1902;  Handbook  of  Psychology:  Vol.  I,  Senses 
and  Intellect,  2d  ed..  New  York,  1890;  Vol.  II,  Feeling  and 
Will,  New  York,  1891;  The  Individual  and  Society,  Boston, 
1911;  Mental  Development  in  the  Child  and  in  the  Race,  2d 
ed.,  New  York,  1903;  Social  and  Ethical  Interpretations  in 
Mental  Development,  New  York,  1897  (3d  ed.,  1902);  The 
Story  of  Mind,  New  York,  1907. 

Balfour,  A.  J.     The  Foundations  of  Belief,  New  York,  1895. 

Balmes,  J.  European  Civilization,  19th  ed.,  Baltimore;  Fv/rvda- 
mental  Philosophy  (tr.  H.  F.  Brownson),  2  vols..  New  York, 
1858. 

Barrett,  E.  Boyd,  S.  J.  Motive  Force  and  Motivation-Tracks, 
London,  1911;  Strength  of  Will,  New  York,  1915. 

Bateson,  W.     Mendel's  Principles  of  Heredity,  Cambridge,  1902. 

Benn,  A.  W.     Greek  Philosophers,  London,  1892. 

Benson,  R.  H.    A  Mirror  of  Shalott,  New  York,  1907. 

Bernard  Louis,  Fr^re,  F.  S.  C.  (tr.  Brother  Chrysostom,  F.S.  C). 
The  Catechist's  Manual,  Philadelphia,  1912. 

Betts,  G.  H.  The  Mind  and  Its  Education,  New  York,  1906;  So- 
cial Principles  of  Education,  New  York,  1912. 

Bible,  The. 

Boedder,  B.,  S.  J.    Natural  Theology,  London,  1899. 

Bolton,  F.  E.    Principles  of  Education,  New  York,  1910. 

Boone,  R.  G.     The  Science  of  Education,  New  York,  1904. 

Bowden,  J.  E.,  P.  O.  The  Life  and  Letters  of  Frederick  William 
Faber,  D,  D.,  Baltimore,  1869. 

Boykin,  G.  C,  and  R.  King.  The  Tangible  Rewards  of  Teach- 
ing, Bureau  of  Education,  Washington,  Bulletin  No.  16,  1914. 

Bremond,  H.,  S.J.  (tr.  H.  C.  Corrance).  The  Mystery  of  New- 
man, London,  1907;  Newman:  Psychologic  de  la  Foi,  4e  ed., 
Paris,  1907. 

Bridges,  J.  H.  The  Opus  Ma  jus  of  Roger  Bacon,  2  vols.,  Ox- 
ford, 1897. 

Brothers  of  the  Christian  Schools.  ApologUique  chrUienn^,  3 
vols.,  Paris,  1902-4;  Biographical  Sketch  of  Brother  ExupS- 
rlen,  Paris,  1906;  Exercises  of  Piety  in  Use  in  the  Christian 
Schools,  New  York,  1911;  Management  of  Christian  Schools^ 
New  York,  1887. 


Bibliography,  347 

Brownlee,   Jane.     Character   Building   in   School,   Boston,    1912; 

Moral    Training    in    the   Public   Schools,    Springfield,    Mass., 

1908. 
Bruneti^re,  F.     Discours  de  Combat,  I,  Paris,  1900;  Discours  de 

Combat,  nouvelle  serie,  Paris,  1903. 
Brunner,  J.  N.     "Katholische  Religionslehre,"  in  Handbuch  der 

Erziehungs-  und   Unterrichtslehre  fiir  hdheren  Schulen   (A. 

Baumeister,  ed.),  Bd.  Ill,  Munich,  1898. 
Butler,  N.  M.     The  Meaning  of  Education,  New  York,  1898. 

Caird,    E.      The    Critical  Philosophy    of   Kant,   2    vols.,   London, 

1889. 
California  Prize  Essays.     Moral  Training  in  the  Public  Schools, 

Boston,  1907. 
Calkins,  M.  W.    A  First  Book  in  Psychology,  3d  ed..  New  York, 

1912. 
Camus  de  Pont-Carr6,  Rt.  Rev.  J.  P.     The  Spirit  of  St.  Francis 

de  Sales  (Eng.  tr.).  New  York,  1867. 
Catholic  Encyclopedia,  New  York,  1907-14. 
Chancellor,   W.    E.     Motives,   Ideals   and    Values   in   Education, 

Boston,  1907. 
Charters,  W.  W.    Methods  of  Teaching,  Chicago,  1912. 
Chauvin,  Rev.  P.,  O.  S.  B.     Qu'est  ce  qu'un  Saint?    Paris,  1910. 
Chrysostom,  St.  John.     Opera,  ed.  Migne,  Paris,  1862. 
Cicero.     De  Finibus;  De  Officiis. 

Clark,  W.  A.     Suggestion  in  Education,  Chicago,  1900. 
Clarke,  R.,  S.  J.    Logic,  London,  1901. 

Colgrove,  C.  P.     The  Teacher  and  the  School,  New  York,  1910. 
Colvin,  S.  S.     The  Learning  Process,  New  York,  1911. 
Colvin,  S.  S.,  and  W.  C.  Bagley.     Human  Behavior,  New  York, 

1913. 
Conklin,  E.  G.     Heredity  and  Environment  in  the  Development 

of  Men,  Princeton,  1915. 
Constable,  F.  C.     Poverty  and  Hereditary  Genius,  London,  1905. 
Constantius,  Brother,  F.  S.  C.     The  Young  Christian  Teacher  En- 
couraged, 2d  ed.,  St.  Louis,  1909. 
Council   of   Trent,   Catchecism  of    (tr.   J.    Donovan),   Baltimore, 

1829. 
Cramer,    F.     Moral    Training   in    the   Public   Schools,   California 

Prize  Essays,  Boston,  1907;  Talks  to  Students  on  the  Art  of 

Study,  San  Francisco,  1902. 


348  Bibliography, 

Davenport,  E.     Education  for  Efficiency,  Boston,  1909. 
Davidson,  T.    Aristotle  and  the  Ancient  Educational  Ideals,  New 
York,  1892, 

De  Garmo,  C.  Essentials  of  Method,  Boston,  1889;  Interest  and 
Education,  New  York,  1902;  Principles  of  Secondary  Educa- 
tion: Vol.  Ill,  Ethical  Training,  New  York,  1910. 

De  la  Salle,  St.  John  Baptist.  Collection  of  Short  Treatises, 
Paris,  1906;  Explanation  of  the  Method  of  Mental  Prayer, 
Paris,  1912  (tr.  from  the  French  edition  of  1739);  Medita- 
tions for  Sundays  and  Festivals,  2  vols..  New  York,  1882 
(French  1-vol.  ed.,  Versailles,  1882). 

Denifle,  H.  S.,  O.  P.  Die  Katholische  Kirche  und  das  Ziel  der 
Menschheit,  Graz,  1906. 

Desmond,  H.  J.    Mooted  Questions  of  History,  Boston,  1901. 

Dewey,  J.  The  Child  and  the  Curriculum,  Chicago,  1902;  How 
We  Think,  Boston,  1910;  Interest  as  Related  to  Will,  Chi- 
cago, 1897;  Moral  Principles  in  Education,  Boston,  1909; 
School  and  Society,  Chicago,  1900;  Studies  in  Logical  Theory, 
Chicago,  1903. 

Dexter,  T.  F.  G.,  and  Garlick,  A.  H.  Psychology  in  the  School- 
room, London,  1898. 

Digby,  K.  H.     Mores  Catholici,  3  vols..  New  York,  1891. 

Dollinger,  J.  J.  I.  Heidenthum  und  Judenthum,  Regensburg, 
1857;  The  Gentile  and  the  Jew  in  the  Courts  of  the  Temple 
of  Christ  (tr.  N.  Darnell),  2  vols.,  London,  1906. 

Dolan,  T.  S.  The  See  of  Peter  and  the  Voice  of  Antiquity.  Crit- 
ical Notes  on  Bishop  Coxe's  Ante-Nicene  Fathers,  St.  Louis, 
1908. 

Domet  de  Vorges,  E.  La  Perception  et  la  Psychologie  thomiste, 
Paris,  1892. 

Donaldson,  H.  H.     The  Growth  of  the  Brain,  New  York,  1895. 

Donat,  J.,  S.  J.     The  Freedom  of  Science,  New  York,  1915. 

Drake,  Durant.     Problems  of  Conduct,  Boston,  1914. 

Drane,  A.  T.  (Mother  Francis  Raphael,  O.  S.  D.).  Christian 
Schools  and  Scholars,  2  vols.,  2d  ed.,  London,  1881. 

DriscoU,  J.  T.  Christian  Philosophy:  God,  New  York,  1904; 
Pragmatism  and  the  Problem  of  the  Idea,  New  York,  1915; 
Christian  Philosophy :  A  Treatise  on  the  Human  Soul,  3d  ed.. 
New  York,  1900. 

Dubray,  C.  A.,  S.  M.     "Habit,"  Catholic  Encyclopedia;  Introduce- 


Bibliography/,  849 

tory  Philosophy,  New  York,  1913;  The  Theory  of  Psychical 
Dispositions,  Washington,  1905. 

Dupanloup,  Mgr.  E.  A.  P.  The  Ministry  of  Catechising,  Lon- 
don, 1890. 

Button,  S.  T.  Social  Phases  of  Education  in  the  School  and  in 
the  Home,  New  York,  1900. 

Earhart,  L.  B.  Systematic  Study  in  the  Elennentary  Schools, 
New  York,  1906;  Teaching  Children  to  Study,  New  York, 
1909;   Types  of  Teaching,  Boston,  1915. 

Ebbinghaus,  H.  Ueber  das  Geddchtniss,  Leipzig,  1885;  Memory 
(tr.  H.  A.  Ruger  and  C.  E.  Bussenius),  New  York,  1913. 

Elwang,  W.  W.  "Social  Function  of  Religious  Belief,"  Uni- 
versity of  Missouri  Studies,  Social  Science  Series,  Vol.  II, 
1908. 

Elwood,  C.  A.  Sociology  and  Modern  Social  Problems  (revised 
ed.).  New  York,  1913;  Sociology  in  its  Psychological  Aspects, 
2d  ed..  New  York,  1915. 

Eucken,  R.  Lebensanschauungen  der  grossen  Denker;  Problems 
of  Human  Life  a^  Viewed  by  the  Great  Thinkers  from  Plato 
to  the  Present  Time  (tr.  W.  W.  S.  Hough  and  W.  R.  Boyce 
Gibson),  New  York,  1914. 

Exuperien,  Frere,  F.  S.  C.  Motifs  d' Encouragement  pour  u/n  jeun 
Maitre,  Paris,  1864. 

Faber,  F.  W.,  P.O.  All  for  Jesus,  Baltimore,  1854;  Bethlehem, 
Baltimore,  1868;  The  Blessed  Sacrament,  Baltimore,  1866; 
The  Creator  and  the  Creature,  Baltimore,  1857;  Growth  in 
Holiness,  10th  ed.,  Baltimore;  Notes  on  Doctrinal  and  Spir- 
itual Subjects,  2  vols.,  London,  1872;  Spiritual  Conferences, 
Baltimore,  1859. 

Faraday,  Michael.  "Observations  on  the  Education  of  the  Judg- 
ment," in  The  Culture  Demanded  by  Modem  Life  (ed.  E.  L. 
Youmans),  New  York,  1867. 

Farges,  A.,  S.  S.  Le  Cerveau,  VAme  et  les  Facultes,  Paris, 
1892;  Matiere  et  Forme  en  presence  des  sciences  modernes, 
Paris,  1892;  L'Objectivite  de  la  Perception  et  des  sens  ex- 
temes  et  les  theories  modernes,  Paris,  1885;  Th^orie  fonda- 
mentale  de  VActe  et  de  la  Puissance,  du  Moteur  et  du  Mo- 
bile, 3e  6d.,  Paris,  1893;  La  Vie  et  I'Evolution  des  E spaces, 
Paris,  1892. 


350  Bibliography, 

Fitch,  J.  G.     Educational  Aims  and  Methods,  New  York,  1900. 

Foerster,  F.  W.  Jugendlehre,  Berlin,  1911;  Lehensfiihrung, 
Berlin,  1909;  Lehenskunde,  Berlin,  1909;  "Religion  und  Char- 
akterbildung,"  in  Mimoires  sur  VEducation  Morale  pr4sentes 
au  2e  Congres  international  d'Education  Morale,  Hague, 
1912;  Schule  und  Charakter,  Zurich,  1908;  Art  of  Living 
(tr.  Ethel  Peck),  New  York,  1910;  Marriage  and  the  Sex- 
Problem   (tr.  Meyrick  Booth),  New  York,  1912. 

Fouill6e,  A.  (tr.  W.  J.  Greenstreet).  Education  from  a  National 
Standpoint,  New  York,  1892. 

Fox,  Constance.  "The  Moral  Education  of  Roman  Catholic  Chil- 
dren," in  International  Moral  Congress,  Second  Report,  The 
Hague,  1912. 

Fox,  J.  J.     Religion  and  Morality,  New  York,  1899. 

Galton,  F.    Hereditary  Genius,  London,  1869. 

Gardiner,  J.  H.  The  Bible  as  English  Literature,  New  York, 
1906. 

Gaume,  Mgr.  J.  Catechism  of  Perseverance,  4  vols.  (Eng.  ed.), 
Dublin,  1883. 

Gay,  Mgr.  C.  De  la  Vie  et  des  Vertus  chrUiennes  dans  Vetat 
religieux,  lOe  ed.,  2  vols.,  Paris,  1883. 

George,  W.  R.  The  George  Junior  Republic:  Its  History  am^d 
Ideals,  New  York,  1910. 

Gerrard,  T.  J.,  S.J.  A  Challenge  to  the  Time-Spirit,  New  York, 
1914;  "Eugenics,"  Catholic  Encyclopedia. 

Gibergues,  Mgr.    Faith,  New  York,  1914. 

Gibbons,  J.  Card.     Our  Christian  Heritage,  Baltimore,  1889. 

Giddings,  F.  H.    Elements  of  Sociology,  New  York,  1898. 

Gillet,  Rev.  M.  S.,  O.  P.  (tr.  Benjamin  Green).  The  Education 
of  Character,  New  York,  1914;  La  VirllifS  chrUienne,  Paris, 
1909. 

Gomperz,  Theodor.     Greek   Thinkers,  London,   1901-12. 

Gordy,  J.  P.  Rise  and  Growth  of  the  Normal  School  Idea  in 
the  United  States,  Bureau  of  Education,  Washington,  Bulle- 
tin No.  8,  1891. 

Guibert,  Mgr.  J.  Le  Caracthre,  1908;  La  Culture  des  Vocations, 
Paris,  1901.  L'Educateur  Apotre,  Paris,  1894;  La  Forma- 
tion de  la  Volont4,  Paris,  1902;  Les  Qualit4s  de  t'Educatewr, 
Paris,  1903. 


Bibliography.  351 

Gutberlet,  C.  Expervmenfelle  Psychologic  mit  besonderer  Be- 
riicksichtigung  der  Pddagogik,  Paderborn,  1915. 

Guyer,  M.  F.  Being  W ell-Born;  an  Introduction  to  Eugenics, 
Indianapolis,  1916. 

Hall,  G.  S.,  and  J.  M.  Mansfield.  Bibliography  of  Education, 
Boston,   1893. 

Halleck,  R.  P.  Education  of  the  Central  Nervous  System,  New 
York,   1896. 

Hammond,  W.    Aristotle's  Psychology,  London,  1902. 

Hanna,  J.  C.  "Moral  Agencies  Affecting  the  High  School  Stu- 
dent," Chap.  XXIX,  "Religious  Education,"  in  Johnston's 
Modern  High  School,  New  York,  191^. 

Harent,  S.,  S.J.  "Croyance,"  Dictionnaire  de  thSologie  catho- 
lique,  Paris,  1908;  "Original  Sin,"  Catholic  Encyclopedia. 

Harper,  T.,  S.  J.  Metaphysics  of  the  School,  3  vols.,  London, 
1879-84. 

Hart,  J.  K.  A  Critical  Study  of  Current  Theories  of  Moral  Edu- 
cation, Chicago,  1910. 

Heck,  W.  H.  Mental  Discipline  and  Educational  Values,  New 
York,   1909. 

von  Hefele,  C.  J.  Histoires  des  Conciles  (tr.  Goschler  et  Delarc), 
10  vols.,  Paris,  1869-74. 

Heimbucher,  Dr.  M.  J.  Die  Orden  u/nd  Kongregationen  der 
Katholischen  Kirche,  3  vols.,  Paderborn,  1907. 

Henderson,  L.  J.  The  Fitness  of  the  Environment,  New  York, 
1913. 

Hettinger,  Dr.  F.  Timothy;  or,  Letters  to  a  Young  Theologian 
(tr.  Rev.  V.  Stepka),  St.  Louis,  1902. 

Heuser,  H.  Chapters  of  Bible  Study,  New  York,  1896;  The 
Harmony  of  the  Religious  Life,  New  York,  1902. 

HiUis,  N.  D.    Faith  and  Character,  Chicago,  1902. 

Holmes,  A.     Principles  of  Character  Making,  Philadelphia,  1913. 

Home,  Herman  H.  Idealism  in  Education,  New  York,  1910; 
Philosophy  of  Education,  New  York,  1904;  Psychological 
Principles  of  Education,  New  York,  1906. 

Howard,  G.  E.  Social  Psychology;  an  Analytical  Reference  Syl- 
labus, Lincoln,  Neb.,  1910;  Sociology;  an  Analytical  Refer- 
ence Syllabus,  Lincoln,  Neb.,  1907. 

Hubbell,  G.  A.     Up  through  Childhood,  New  York,  1904. 

Hull,  E.  R.,  S.  J.    The  Formation  of  Character,  London,  1909. 


S52  Bibliography, 

Hume,  D.  Treatise  on  Human  Nature  (Selby-Bigge's  ed.),  Ox- 
ford, 1896. 

Hyde,  W.  De  Witt.  The  College  Man  and  the  College  Woman, 
Boston,  1906;  Five  Great  Philosophies  of  Life,  New  York, 
1911;  From  Epicurus  to  Christ,  New  York,  1904;  Ood/s  Edu- 
cation of  Man,  Boston,  1899;  The  Quest  of  the  Best,  New 
York,  1913;  The  Teacher's  Philosophy  in  and  out  of  School, 
Boston,  1910. 

James,  W.  The  Energies  of  Men  (Religion  and  Medicine  Publi- 
cation, No.  3),  New  York,  1908;  The  Meaning  of  Truth,  New 
York,  1909;  Pragmatism,  New  York,  1908;  Psychology,  2 
vols..  New  York,  1890;  Talks  to  Teachers,  New  York,  1899; 
The   Will  to  Believe,  New  York,  1912. 

Jennings,  H.  S.  Behavior  of  the  Lower  Organisms,  New  York, 
1906. 

Johnston,  C.  H.,  and  others.  High  School  Education,  New  York, 
1912,  Bibliography,  pp.  513-516;  The  Modern  High  School, 
New  York,  1914,  Bibliography,  pp.  817-828. 

Joly,  H.  La  Psychologic  des  Saints,  Paris,  1897;  Psychology  of 
the  Saints,  London,  1902. 

Judd,  C.  H.     Genetic  Psychology  for  Teachers,  New  York,  1903. 

Kant,  I.  Kritik  der  praktischen  Vernunft  (Prussian  Academy 
of  Sciences  ed.,  Sammtliche  Werke,  Bd.  V),  Berlin,  1904; 
Kant's  Critique  of  Practical  Reason  and  Other  Works  on  the 
Theory  of  Ethics  (tr.  T.  K.  Abbott),  London,  1898;  Kritik 
der  reinen  Vernunft  (P.  A.  S.  ed.,  Sammtliche  Werke,  Bd. 
Ill),  Berlin,  1904;  Critique  of  Pure  Reason  (tr.  J.  Meikle- 
john),  London,  1854. 

Kappa.    Let  Youth  hut  Know,  London,  1905. 

k  Kempis,  T.     The  Imitation  of  Christ. 

King,  I.  Education  for  Social  Efficiency,  New  York,  1913;  Psy- 
chology of  Child  Development,  Chicago,  1903;  Social  Aspects 
of  Education,  New  York,  1912. 

Kirkpatrick,  E.  A.  Fundamentals  of  Sociology,  with  special  em- 
phasis upon  Community  and  Educational  Problems,  Boston, 
1916;  Genetic  Psychology,  an  Introduction  to  an  Objective 
and  Genetic  View  of  Intelligence,  New  York,  1911. 

Klapper,  P.  Principles  of  Educational  Practice,  New  York, 
1912. 


Bibliography,  353 

Koch,  F.  J.  (tr.  A.  M.  Buchanan).    Marmal  of  Apologetics,  New 

York,  1915. 
Krieg,  C.    Lehrbuch  der  Pddagogik,  Paderborn,  1900. 

Laberthonni^re,  L.     TMorie  de  VEducation,  Paris,  1908. 

Ladd,  G.  T.  Philosophy  of  Conduct:  a  Treatise  of  the  Facts, 
Principles  and  Ideals  of  Ethics,  New  York,  1902;  Philosophy 
of  Mind,  New  York,  1895;  Philosophy  of  Religion,  New 
York,  1905;  Psychology,  Descriptive  and  Explanatory,  New 
York,  1894;  The  Teacher's  Practical  Philosophy,  New  York, 
1911;  What  Should  I  Believe?  an  Inquiry  into  the  Nature, 
Grounds  and  Value  of  the  Faiths  of  Science,  Society, 
Morals,  and  Religion,  New  York,  1915. 

Ladd,  G.  T.,  and  R.  S.  Woodworth.  Elements  of  Physiological 
Psychology,  New  York,  1911. 

Landon,  E.  H.  A  Manual  of  the  Councils  of  the  Holy  Catholic 
Church,  2  vols,   (revised  ed.),  Edinburgh,  1909. 

Lange,  A.  F.,  and  C.  De  Garmo.  Herhart's  Outlines  of  Educa- 
tional Doctrine,  New  York,   1901. 

Lamed,  J.  N.     A  Primer  of  Right  and  Wrong,  Boston,  1902. 

Lilly,  W.  S.  Characteristics  from  the  Writings  of  John  Henry 
Newman,  New  York,  1888. 

Lockington,  W.  J.,  S.  J.  Bodily  Health  and  Spiritual  Vigor, 
London,  1913. 

Lodge,  O.,  and  others.     Science  and  Religion,  London,  1914. 

Lucas,  G.  J.    Agnosticism  and  Religion,  New  York,  1895. 

MacCunn,  J.    The  Making  of  Character,  New  York,  1900. 

McKenny,  C.    The  Personality  of  the  Teacher,  Chicago,  1910. 

MacKenzie,  J.  S.  Introduction  to  Social  Philosophy,  Glasgow, 
1895. 

McMurry,  C.  A.  Conflicting  Principles  in  Teaching,  Boston, 
1914;  Elements  of  General  Method,  New  York,  1903. 

McMurry,  C.  A.,  and  F.  M.  The  Method  of  the  Recitation,  New 
York,  1915. 

McMurry,  F.  M.  How  to  Study  and  Teaching  How  to  Study, 
Boston,  1909. 

MacVannel,  J.  A.  Outline  of  a  Course  in  the  Philosophy  of  Ed- 
ucation, New  York,  1912. 

Maher,  M.,  S.  J.    "Consciousness,"  "Idea,"  Catholic  Encyclopedia; 


354  Bibliography. 

Psychology,  Empirical  and  Rational,  7th  ed.,  New  York, 
1911;    "Psychology,"   Catholic   Encyclopedia. 

Maitland,  S.  R.     The  Dark  Ages,  London,  1889. 

Malapert,  P.  Les  EUments  du  Caractdre  et  leur  Lois  de  cofn- 
binaison,  Paris,  1897. 

Mailer,  F.     Qu'est-ce  que  la  Foi?  Paris,  1908. 

Manning,  H.  E.,  Card.  Four  Great  Evils  of  the  Day,  London, 
1871. 

Matthias,  A.  "Praktische  Padagogik  fiir  hoheren  Lehranstalten," 
in  Dr.  A.  Baumeister's  Handhuch  der  Erziehungs-  und  Un- 
terrichtslehre,  Munich,  1903. 

M^moires  sur  VEducation  Morale  presentSs  cm  deuxi^me  Corir 
gr^s  international  d'Education  Morale  a  la  Haye,  Hague, 
1912. 

Mercier,  D.  Card.  La  notion  de  la  V4rit4,  Louvain,  1900;  Psy- 
chologie,  4e  ^d.,  Louvain,  1903. 

Messer,  A.  Die  Apperzeption  als  Grundbegriff  der  pddagogischen 
Psychologic,  Berlin,  1915. 

Meumann,  E.  (tr.  J.  W.  Baird),  The  Psychology  of  Learning, 
New  York,  1913. 

Miall,  L.  C.     Thirty  Years  of  Teaching,  London,  1897. 

Mill,  J.  S.     Three  Essays  on  Religion,  New  York,  1874. 

Miller,  I.  E.     Psychology  of  Thinking,  New  York,  1909. 

Mivart,  St.  G.  J.     On  Truth,  London,  1889. 

Monroe,  P.  Cyclopedia  of  Education,  1911-1913;  Principles  of 
Secondary  Education,  New  York,  1914;  Source  Book  of  Edu- 
cation, New  York,  1891;  Text  Book  in  the  History  of  Edu- 
cation, New  York,  1906. 

Montalembert,  Count  de.  The  Monks  of  the  West,  3  vols.,  Bos- 
ton, 1872. 

Moore,  T.  Y.,  C.  S.  P.  "Memory,"  Catholic  Encyclopedia;  The 
Process  of  Abstraction,  Berkeley  U.,  1910;  A  Study  in  Reac- 
tion Time  and  Movement  (Psychological  Review  Monograph 
Supplement),  New  York,  1904. 

Muckermann,  H.,  S.  J.     "Biology,"  Catholic  Encyclopedia. 

Muensterberg,  H.    Psychology  and  the  Teacher,  New  York,  1910. 

Newman,  J.  H.,  Card.  Apologia  pro  Vita  sua.  New  York,  1906; 
Discourses  Addressed  to  Mixed  Congregations,  London, 
1891;    Grammar   of  Assent,   London,    1870;   Idea,  of   a   Um- 


Bibliography,  S55 

versify,  London,  1902;   Oxford   University  Sermons,  London, 
189G;  Sermons  Preached  on  Various  Occasions,  London,  1894. 

OUe-Laprune,  L.     De  la  Certitude  Morale,  2e  ed.,  Paris,  1892. 
Osborn,  H.  F.     Huxley  and  Education,  New  York,  1910. 
O'Shea,  M.  V.     Dynamic  Factors  in  Education,  New  York,  1906; 
Education  as  Adjustment,  New  York,  1912. 

Pace,  E.  A.  "Education,"  Catholic  Encyclopedia;  "Survey  of 
Problems,"  Less.  3  in  Dr.  Shield's  Psychology  of  Education, 
Washington,  1905. 

Palmer,  G.  H.  Ethical  and  Moral  Instruction  in  Schools,  Boston, 
1909;   The  Ideal  Teacher,  Boston,  1908. 

Parker,  G.  H.     Biology  and  Social  Problems,  Boston,  1914. 

Parker,  F.     Talks  on  Teaching,  New  York,  1893. 

Partridge,  G.  E.  Genetic  Philosophy  of  Education,  New  York, 
1912. 

Patten,  S.  N.     The  Social  Basis  of  Religion,  New  York,  1911. 

Payot,  J.  L'Education  de  la  Volont4,  Paris,  1903;  The  Educa- 
tion of  the  Will,  the  Theory  and  Practice  of  Self-Culture, 
New  York,  1909. 

Perrier,  J.  L.  The  Revival  of  Scholastic  Philosophy  in  the  Nine- 
teenth Century,  New  York,  1909. 

Petronius,  Bruder,  F.  S.  C.  Pddagogik  dee  HI,  Johann  Baptist 
de  la  Salle  und  der  Christlichen  Schulbriider,  Freiburg  im 
Breisgau,  1911. 

Pillsbury,  W.  B.  Attention,  New  York,  1908;  The  Essentials  of 
Psychology,  New  York,  1911. 

Pope,  H.,  O.  P.  The  Catholic  Student's  "Aids"  to  the  Study  of 
the  Bible,  New  York,   1913;   "Faith,"  Catholic  Encyclopedia. 

Pratt,  J.  B.  The  Psychology  of  Religious  Belief,  New  York, 
1907. 

Pyle,  W.  H.    Outline  of  Educational  Psychology,  Baltimore,  1911. 

Quick,  R.  H.     Educational  Reformers,  New  York,  1896. 

von  Ranke,  L.  Deutsche  Geschichte  im  Zeitalter  der  Reformor 
tion,  Leipzig,  1839-47;  History  of  the  Reformation  in  Ger- 
many   (tr.  Sarah  Austin),  3  vols.,  London,  1845-47. 

Rickaby,  John,  S.  J.  First  Principles  of  Knowledge^  4th  ed., 
London,  1901. 


356  Bibliography, 

Rickaby,  Jos.,  S.J.     Aquinas  Ethicns,  2  vols.,  New  York,  18§6; 

Index    to    the    Works    of   Cardinal  Newman,   London,   1914; 

Moral  Philosophy,  London,  1910. 
Rosenkranz,  J.  F.  K.     The  Philosophy  of  Education  (tr.  Anna  C. 

Brackett),  New  York,  1907. 
Ross,  E.  A.    Social  Control,  New  York,  1901;  Social  Psychology, 

New  York,   1914. 
Ruediger,  W.  C.    Principles  of  Education,  Boston,  1910. 
Rugh,  C.  E.    Moral  Training  in  the  Public  Schools,  Boston,  1907. 

Sabatier,  P.  Outlines  of  Philosophy  of  Religion  Based  on  Psy- 
chology and  History  (tr.  Hodder  and  Stoughton),  New  York, 
1902. 

Sauvage,  G.  M.,  C.  S.  C.  "Analogy,"  "Traditionalism,"  Catholic 
Encyclopedia. 

Schaefer,  E.  A.  Text-book  of  Physiology,  2  vols.,  Edinburgh, 
1898-1900. 

Schroeder,  H.  H.  The  Psychology  ^  of  Conduct  Applied  to  the 
-  Problem  of  Moral  Education  in  the  Public  Schools,  New 
York,  1908. 

Scripture,  E.  W.  The  New  Psychology,  London,  1905;  Thinking, 
Feeling,  and  Doing,  Meadville,  Pa.,  1895. 

Scupoli,  L.     The  Spiritvial  Combat,  Baltimore,  1865. 

Search,  P.  W,    An  Ideal  School,  New  York,  1908. 

Seashore,  C.  E.    Psychology  in  Daily  Life,  New  York,  1913. 

Second  International  Moral  Education  Congress.  Papers  con- 
tributed by  American  Writers  and  Review  of  Recent  Amer- 
ican Literature  on  Moral  Education,  Hague,  1912. 

Select  Library  of  Nicene  and  Post-Nicene  Fathers,  New  York, 
1908. 

Shand,  A.  F.     The  Foundations  of  Character,  London,  1914. 

Sharpe,  A.  B.     The  Principles  of  Christianity,  London,  1906. 

Shields,  T.  E.     Psychology  of  Education,  Washington,  1905. 

Siegfried,  F.  P.     "Creation,"  Catholic  Encyclopedia. 

Sisson,  E.  O.  Essentials  of  Character,  New  York,  1910;  "Moral 
and  Religious  Education,"  Chap.  VIII,  in  Monroe's  Prin- 
ciples of  Secondary  Education,  New  York,  1914. 

Smith,  J.  Talbot.  Brother  Azarias,  New  York,  1897;  The  Train- 
ing of  a  Priest,  New  York,  1908. 

Spalding,  Most  Rev.  J.  L.    Education  and  the  Higher  Life,  Chi- 


Bibliography,  357 

cago,   1890;  Means  cmd  Ends  of  Education,  Chicago,  1896; 

Things  of  the  Mind,  Chicago,  1894. 
Spencer,  H.    Education,  New  York,  1874;  Principles  of  Biology, 

2  vols..  New  York,  1873. 
Spiller,    G.     Moral   Education   in   Eighteen    Countries,    London, 

1909. 
Starbuck,  E.  D.    Psychology  of  Religion,  London,  1900. 
Stratton,  G.  M.     Experimental  Psychology  and  its  Bearing  upon 

Culture,  New  York,  1914. 
Stray er,  G.  D.     The  Teaching  Process,  New  York,  1911. 
Strong,  A.  L.    Prayer  from  the  Standpoint  of  Social  Psychology, 

Chicago,  1909. 
Suzzallo,    H.      "Steps,    Five    Formal,"    Monroe's    Cyclopedia    of 

Education. 
Swift,  E.  J.     Learning  and  Doing,  Indianapolis,  1914;  Mind  in 

the  Making,   New   York,   1908;    Youth   and   the   Race,   New 

York,  1912. 

Tarde,  G.  (tr.  Mrs.  E.  C.  Parsons).  The  Laws  of  Imitation,  New 
York,  1903;  Social  Laws  (tr.  H.  C.  Warren),  New  York, 
1899. 

Taylor,  A.  E.  The  Problem  of  Conduct;  a  Study  in  the  Phenom- 
enology of  Ethics,  London,  1901. 

Taylor,  C.  K.     Character  DevelopTtient,  Philadelphia,  1913. 

Teresa,  St.  (tr.  J.  Dalton).  The  Way  of  Perfection,  London, 
1862. 

Thamiry,  E.     "Immanence,"  Catholic  Encyclopedia. 

Tierney,  R.  H.,  S.  J.     Teacher  and  Teaching,  New  York,  1914. 

Thomas  Aquinas,  St.  Opusc.  de  Principio  Individuationis;  The 
Religious  State  (tr.  J.  Proctor),  St.  Louis,  1903;  Qucestio  Dis- 
putata  de  Anima;  Summa  Theologica. 

Thompson,  F.    Health  and  Holiness,  2d  ed.,  London,  1908. 

Thomson,  J.  A.    Heredity,  London,  1908. 

Thorndike,  E.  L.  Education,  a  First  Book,  New  York,  1912; 
Educational  Psychology,  3  vols..  New  York,  1913-14;  Ele- 
ments of  Psychology,  New  York,  1905;  Elimination  of  Pupils 
from  School,  Bureau  of  Education,  Bulletin  No.  4,  1907; 
Human  Nature  Club,  New  York,  1901;  Principles  of  Teach- 
ing Based  on  Psychology,  New  York,  1906. 

Thring,  E.     Theory  and  Practice  of  Teaching,  Cambridge,  1886; 


358  Bibliography, 

Teaching,  Learning  and  Life   (ed.   H.  and  M.  P.),  London, 
1913. 

Titchener,  E.  B.  A  Beginner's  Psychology,  New  York,  1915;  Ex- 
perimental Psychology,  Parts  I,  II,  4  vols..  New  York, 
1901-05;  Exjjerbnencal  Psychology  of  the  Thought-processes, 
New  York,  1909;  Lectures  on  the  Elementary  Psychology  of 
Feeling  and  Attention,  New  York,  1908;  Primer  of  Psychol- 
ogy, New  York,  1903;  "Psychology,  Structural,"  Monroe's 
Cyclopedia  of  Education;  Text-hook  of  Psychology,  New 
York,  1910. 

Toohey,  J.  J.,  S.  J.  An  Indexed  Synopsis  of  the  Orammar  of 
Assent,  New  York,  1906. 

Turner,  W.  History  of  Philosophy,  Boston,  1903;  Logic,  Wash- 
ington, 1911. 

Ullathorne,  Rt.  Ilev.  W.  B.  The  Endowments  of  Man,  London, 
1880. 

Vacant,  A.,  and  E.  Mangenot.     Dictionnaire  de  tMologie  catho- 

lique,  Paris,  1903. 
Vaughan,  Rt.  Rev.  J.  S.    Faith  and  Folly,  London,  1901. 
Vaughan,  Very  Rev.  R.  Bede,  O.  S.  B.     St.  Thames  of  Aquin,  2 

vols.,  London,  1871. 
Vermeersch,  A.,  S.J.     "Modernism,"   "Novice"   and  "Profession, 

Religious,"  Catholic  Encyclopedia. 

Ward,  W.     The  Wish  to  Believe,  London,  1885. 

Washburn,  M.  F.     The  Animal  Mind,  New  York,  1908. 

Watson,  J.  B.  Behavior;  an  Introduction  to  Comparative  Psy- 
chology, New  York,  1914. 

Wilm,  E.  C.  "The  Religious  Life  of  the  High  School  Student," 
Chap.  XXX,  in  Johnston's  Modern  High  School,  New  York, 
1914   (Bibliography,  pp.  825-828). 

Wirth,  E.  J.    "Association  of  Ideas,"  Catholic  Encyclopedia. 

Wiseman,  N.  Card.  Twelve  Lectures  on  the  Connection  between 
Science  and  Revealed  Religion,  2  vols.,  3d  ed.,  New  York, 
n.  d. 

Witmer,  L.    Analytical  Psychology,  Boston,  1902. 

de  Wulf,  M.  (tr.  P.  Coffey).  History  of  Medieval  Philosophy, 
London,  1909;  Scholasticism,  Old  and  New;  an  Introduction 
to  SchoUistic  Philosophy,  Medieval  and  Modem,  Dublin,  1907. 


Bibliography,  359 

Wundt,  W.  Grtmdriss  der  Psychologie,  2te  Aufhstge,  Leipzig, 
1897;  Outlines  of  Psychology  (tr.  C.  H.  Judd),  Leipzig,  1897; 
Grundzilge  der  physiologischen  Psychologie,  5e  Auflage,  3 
vols.,  Leipzig,  1902-3;  Principles  of  Physiological  Psychology 
(tr.  E.  B.  Titchener),  2  vols..  New  York,  1904;  Lectures  on 
Huirian  and  Animal  Psychology  (tr.  J.  E.  Creighton  and  E. 
B.  Titchener),  London,  1896. 

Young,  Alfred,  C.  S.  P.  Catholic  and  Protestant  Covmtries  Corru- 
pared,  New  York,  1895. 

Zigliara,  T.  Card.  SuTrmia  Philosophica,  3  vols.,  7th  ed.,  Lyons, 
1889. 


ARTICLES    FROM    REVIEWS. 

Bagley,    W.    C.     "Training    Public    School    Teachers,"    Religious 

Education,  V,  1911,  p.  612   (Feb.). 
Baker,  B.  N.     "Morals  by  Graphic  Method,"  Rel  Ed.,  V,  1910, 

p.  189   (June). 
Barbas,  Brother,  F.  S.  C.     "St.  Thomas'  Latest  Critic,"  American 

Catholic  Quarterly  Review,  X,  1885,  p.  36. 
Barnes,  C.  W.     "Moral  and  Religious  Training,"  National  Edu^ 

cation  Association  Proceedings,  1911,  p.  399. 
Baudin,  E.     "La  philosophie  de  la  foi  chez  Newman,"     Rev.  de 

Philosophie,  VI,   1906,  p.   571    (June),  p.   20    (July),  p.   253 

(Sept.),  p.  373   (Oct.). 
Bell,    S.      "A    Study    of    the    Teacher's    Influence,"    Pedagogical 

Seminary,  Vll,  1908,  p.  492. 
"Bibliography   of   Religious   Education,"  Rel.  Ed.,  VI,   1911,  p. 

470  (Dec). 
Bos,  C.     "La  port6e  sociale  de  la  Croyance,"  Rev.  Philosophique, 

XL VI,  1898,  p.  233. 
Brown,  E.  E.     "Distinctive  Functions  of  University,  College  and 

Normal  School  Preparation  of  Teachers,"  Education,  XXIX, 

1908,  p.   1. 
Burk,  F.     "Normal  Schools  and  the  Training  of  Teachers,"  At- 
lantic Monthly,  LXXXI,  1898,  p.  769. 
Burns,   J.    A.,   C.  S.  C.      "Correlation    and   the    Teaching   of   Re- 
ligion,   Catholic   Educational  Association  Proceedings,   19X4, 

p.  37, 


360  Bibliography, 

Butler,  N.  M.    "Some  Pressing  Problems,"  iV.  E,  A,  Proc,  1902, 

p.   66. 
Byrne,  W.  A.     "The  Necessity  of  an  Enlightened  Conscience  for 

the  Performance  of  Civic  Duties,"  Oath.  Ed,  Assoc,  Proc, 

1908,  p.   98. 

Cavanaugh,  J.  W.,  C.  S.  C.  "Religious  Instruction  the  Basis  of 
Morality,"  Cath.  Ed.  Assoc.  Proc,  1908,  p.  85. 

Coe,  G.  A.  "Moral  and  Religious  Education  from  the  Psycho- 
logical Point  of  View,"  Eel.  Ed.,  Ill,  1908,  p.  165  (Dec). 

Conaty,  Rt.  Rev.  T.  J.  "The  Personality  of  the  Teacher,"  N,  E. 
A.  Proc,  1907,  p.  77. 

Condon,  R.  F.  "Some  Errors  in  Education,"  Cath.  Ed.  Assoc. 
Proc,  1911,  p.  310. 

Considine,  M.  J.  "The  Catholic  View  of  Moral  and  Religious 
Training,"  Cath.  Ed.  Assoc.  Proc,  1905,  p.  156. 

Cope,  H.  F.  "Character  Development  Through  Social  Living," 
Bel.  Ed.,  IV,  1909,  p.  401  (Dec);  "A  Selected  List  of  Books 
on  Moral  Training  and  Instruction  in  the  Public  Schools," 
Bel.  Ed.,  V,  1911,  pp.  718-32  (Feb.). 

Crane,  R.  "The  Catholic  School  and  Social  Morality,"  Cath.  Ed. 
Assoc.  Proc,  1908,  p.  92. 

Cummins,  P.,  O.  S.  B.  "Religious  Training  from  the  Standpoint 
of  Philosophy,"  Cath.  Ed.  Assoc  Proc,  1911,  p.  276. 

Dewey,  J.  "The  Reflex  Arc  Concept  in  Psychology,"  Psychologi- 
cal Bev.,  Ill,  1896,  p.  357  (July). 

Doan,  F.  C.  "Teaching  Philosophy:  The  Case  System  in  the 
Teaching  of  the  Philosophy  of  Religion,"  Bel.  Ed.,  V,  1910, 
p.   193   (June). 

Ei,  J.  C,  S.  M.  "Difficulties  Encountered  by  Religious  Superiors 
in  the  Professional  Training  of  Their  Teachers,  Cath.  Ed. 
Assoc.  Proc,  1913,  p.  362. 

Fergusson,  E.  M.  "The  Teachers'  Training  Work  of  the  Inter- 
national Sunday-School  Association,"  Bel.  Ed.,  Ill,  1908,  p. 
63    (Feb.). 

Fisher,  G.  J.  "Character  Development  Through  Social  and  Per- 
sonal Hygiene,"  Bel.  Ed.,  IV,  1909,  p.  392  (Dec). 

Frost,  E.  P.  "Habit  Formation  and  Reformation,"  Yale  Beview, 
IV,  1914,  p.  130  (Oct.). 


Bibliography.  861 

de   G.,   A.     "Correlation  of   Agnosticism   and   Positivism,"   Am. 

Cath.  Quart  Rev.,  X,  1885,  p.  65, 
Garvin,   J.    E.      "Culture    and   the   Teacher,"    Cath,   Ed.   Assoc. 

Proc,  1909,  p.  294. 

Halleck,  R.   P.     "Teachers  of  Youth:  The  Special  Training  of 

Sunday-School  Teachers  of  Young  Men  and  Young  Women," 

Rel  Ed.,  V,  1910,  p.  140  (June). 
Harris,  T.  W.     "The  Separation  of  the  Church  from  the  School 

Supported  by  the  Public  Taxes,"  N.  E.  A.  Proc,  1903,  p.  361. 
Holland,  C.  J.     "The  Bible  and  the  Schools,"  Cath.  Ed.  Assoc. 

Proc,  1914,  p.  220. 
Hunter,  R.   H.     "Catholic  Education  and  the  Public  Welfare," 

Cath.  Ed.  Assoc.  Proc,  1913,  p.  96. 

Johnson,  D.  B.  "The  Strength  of  the  Normal  School,"  N.  E.  A. 
Proc,  1914,  p.  662. 

Kerby,  W.  J.    "The  Young  Priest  and  His  Elders,"  Ecclesiastical 

Review,  LIV,  1916,  p.  257  (March). 
Kirk,  J.  B.     "A  Statement  of  the  Issues  Now  Confronting  the 

Normal  Schools  in  the  United  States,"  N.  E.  A.  Proc,  1907, 

p.  740. 

LaRue,  D.     "The  Church  and  the  Public  Schools,"  Educational 

Review,  XXXVII,  1909,  p.  468. 
Lyttleton,  E.     "Instruction  in  Matters  of  Sex,"  Ed.  Rev.,  XL VI, 

1913,  p.  135. 

McDevitt,  Mgr.  P.  R.  "The  Problem  of  Curriculum  for  Week- 
Day  Religious  Instruction — From  the  Roman  Catholic  View- 
point," Rel.  Ed.,  XI,  1916,  p.  231  (June). 

Meyer,  H.  A.    "From  the  Protestant  Viewpoint,"  Ibid,  p.  239. 

Mivart,  St.  G.  J.  "Emotion,"  Am.  Cath.  QuarA  Rev.,  Ill,  1879, 
p.  301. 

NichoU,  J.  B.,  S.  M.  "Present  Day  Tendencies  in  Education," 
Cath.  Ed.  Assoc  Proc,  1914,  p.  143. 

O'Connell,  Mgr.   J.   T.     "Christian  Teaching,"   Cath.   Ed.   Assoc. 

Proc,  1906,  p.  268. 
O'Reilly,  P.  B.,  S.  M.     "Necessity  and  Means  of  Promoting  Vo- 


362  Bibliography. 

cations  to  Teaching  Orders,"  Cath.  Ed.  Assoc.  Proc,  1908, 
p.  253. 

Pace,  E.  A.  "Education  and  the  Constructive  Aim,"  Constructive 
Quarterly,  III,  No.  3,  1915,  p.  584  (Sept.).  "How  Christ 
Taught  Religion,"  Catholic  University  Bulletin,  XIV,  1908, 
p.  8;  "The  Influence  of  Religious  Education  on  the  Motives 
of  Conduct,"  N.  E.  A.  Proc,  1903,  p.  346;  "Philosophy  and 
Belief,"  Constructive  Quarterly,  II,  No.  4,  1914,  p.  755 
(Dec);  "The  Present  State  of  Education,"  Cath.  Ed.  Assoc. 
Proc,  1908,  p.  32;  "Religion  and  Education,"  Cath.  Ed. 
Assoc  Proc,  1911,  p.  98;  "St.  Thomas  and  Modern  Thought," 
Cath.  U.  Bulletin,  II,  1896,  p.  188;  "St.  Thomas'  Theory  of 
Education,"  Cath.  U.  Bulletin,  VIII,  1902,  p.  290;  "The 
World-Copy  According  to  St.  Thomas,"  Cath.  U.  Bulletin, 
V,  1899,  p.  205. 

Pearse,  C.  G.  "The  Twentieth  Century  Normal  School,"  N.  E,  A. 
Proc,  1914,  p.  527. 

Powers,  W.,  S.  J.  "The  Thorough  Formation  of  Our  Teachers  in 
the  Spirit  and  Observance  of  Their  Respective  Orders,  an 
Indispensable  Condition  to  Sound  and  Successful  Pedagog- 
ics," Cath.  Ed.  Assoc  Proc,  1913,  p.  339. 

Ruediger,  W.  C.  "Indirect  Improvement  of  Mental  Function 
through  Ideals,"  Ed.  Bev.,  XXXVI,  1908,  p.  364;  "Recent 
Tendencies  in  Normal  Schools  of  the  United  States,"  Ed. 
Rev.,  XXXIII,  1907,  p.  270. 

Russell,  J.  E.  "Professional  Factors  in  the  Training  of  the 
High  School  Teacher,"  Ed.  Bev.,  XLV,  1913,  p.  217. 

Sanders,  F.   K.     "Training  Teachers  of  Religion  in  Universities 

and  Colleges,"  Bel.  Ed.,  Ill,  1908,  p.  55  (June). 
Schroeder,  H.  H.    "The  Religious  Element  in  the  Public  Schools," 

Ed.  Rev.,  XXXVII,  1909,  p.  375. 
Seerley,   H.    H.     "The    Relation   of   Academic   and   Professional 

Work  in  Normal  School,"  N.  E.  A.  Proc,  1911,  p.  697. 
Shahan,   Rt.    Rev.   T.   J.     "The   Teaching   Office   of   the   Catholic 

Church,"  Cath.  Ed.  Assoc  Proc,  1913,  p.  66. 
Shanahan,  E.  T.     "Completing  the  Reformation,"  Catholic  World, 

XCIX,  1914,  p.  433   (July) ;  "The  Unconsidered  Remainder" 

(Feb.). 
Shields,  T.  E.     "The  Culture  Epoch  Theory,"  Cath.  Ed.  Rev.,  XI, 


Bibliography.  363 

1916,  p.  233  (Mch.)  ;  "Education  as  Adjustment,"  ibid.,  p.  97 

(Feb.);  "Physical  and  Social  Heredity,"  ibid.,  p.  57   (Jan.); 

ibid.,  p. 
Sister,  A   Dominican.     "Aims  in  Elementary   Education,"   Cath, 

Ed,  Assoc.  Proc,  1911,  p.  383. 
Sister  of  Charity,  B.  V.  M.     "The  Ultimate  Aim  of  Elementary 

Education,"  Cath.  Ed.  Assoc.  Proc,  1911,  p.  404. 
Sister  of  Christian  Charity.     "Some  Aims  of  Elementary  Educa- 
tion," Cath.  Ed.  Assoc.  Proc,  1911,  p.  398. 
Sister   of   Notre   Dame.     "Normal  Training,"   Cath.   Ed.   Assoc, 

Proc,  1908,  p.  334. 
Starbuck,  E.  D.     "Moral  and  Religious  Education — Sociological 

Aspect,"  Rel.  Ed.,  Ill,  1909,  p.  203  (Feb.). 
Street,  J.   R.     "A   Study  in  Moral  Education,"   Ped.  Sem.,  V, 

1906,  p.  6. 
Thompson,    A.    C.      "Notable    Shortcomings    o*f    State    Normal 

Schools,"  N.  E.  A.  Proc,  1914,  p.  554. 
Thorndike,  E.  L.  Teachers'  College  Record,  II,  1901,  p.  1  (Sept.). 
V/est,    A.    F.      "The    Personal    Touch    in    Teaching,"    Ed.    Rev., 

XXXVI,  1908,  p.  109. 
Witmer,  L.     "Are  We  Educating  the  Rising  Generation?"     Ed. 

Rev.,  XXXVII,  1909,  p.  456. 
Yorke,  P.  C.    "The  World's  Desire,"  Cath.  Ed.  Assoc  Proc,  1913, 

p.  108. 


INDEX  OF  NAMES. 


Abbott,  T.  K.,  118. 

AUies,  T.  W.,  35  f.,  40,  44,  74, 

91  f.,  116,  264,  271. 
Aloysius,  St.,  323. 
Ambrose,  St.,  91. 
Angell,  J.  R.,  210,  249,  266,  284, 

287. 
Anthony,  St.,  91. 
Aristotle,    40  f.,    96,    111,    164, 

205  f.,  237,  241,  243,  245,  294. 
Arnold,  M.,  70. 
Athanasius,  St.,  91,  299. 
Augustine,  St.,  45,  68,  91,  160, 

172  f.,  270  f.,  299,  333,  336. 
Austen,  S.,  91. 
Aveling,  F.,  118  f. 
Azarias,    Brother,    51,    63,    116, 

127,  161,  164,  217,  246  f.,  258. 

von  Baer,  K.,  81. 

Bagley,  W.  C,  43,  58,  110,  149, 
155,  188,  214,  217,  221,  229, 
246,  250,  252,  260,  264  f .,  269, 
287 

Bain,  A.,  20,  112,  118. 

Bainvel,  J.  V.,  106,  121. 

Baird,  J.  W.,  262. 

Baldwin,  J.  M.,  33,  109  f.,  112, 
149  ff.,  156,  170,  173,  187, 
190  ff.,  198,  210,  216  f.,  237  f., 
240  f.,  251,  253,  255  ff.,  260, 
266  ff.,  272  f .,  276  f .,  286,  297, 
316  f.,  319,  321  f. 

Balfour,  A.  J.,  136,  143,  343. 

Balmes,  J.,  31,  246,  326. 

Barbas,  Brother,  234,  246. 

Barnes,  C.  W.,  10. 

Basil,  St.,  91,  299. 

Bateson,  W.,  163. 


Baudin,  E.,  26,  57. 

Bell,  A.,  7. 

Benedict,  St.,  44  f.,  91. 

Benedict  Joseph  Labre,  St.,  67. 

Benn,  A.  W.,  92. 

Benson,  H.,  182. 

Bergson,  H.,  294. 

Bernard,  St.,  122. 

Betts,  G.  H.,  17,  20,  28,  80,  271. 

Boedder,  B.,  193,  333. 

Boethius,  78. 

Boone,  R.  G.,  63. 

Booth,  Meyrick,  141. 

Bos,  C,  63  f. 

Boykin,  C,  3. 

Brackett,  A.  C,  70. 

Bremond,  H.,  68,  119. 

Brown,  E.  E.,  13. 

Browning,  R.,  24. 

Bruehl,  C,  316. 

Bruneti^re,  F.,  138,  144. 

B runner,  J.  N.,  84. 

Buchanan,  A.  M.,  316. 

Bussenius,  C.  E.,  252. 

Butler,  N.  M.,  13,  24,  328. 

Caird,  E.,  118. 

Calkins,  M.  W.,  106,  208,  242. 

Camus    de    Pont-Carr^,    J.    P., 

295,  332. 
Carlyle,  T.,  24. 
Carnoy,  J.  B.,  154. 
Catherine  of  Siena,  St.,  323. 
Cato,  36. 

de  Chateaubriand,  F.  R.,  325  f. 
Chaucer,  G.,  24,  78. 
Chauvin,  P.,  63. 
Chrysostom,    St.    John,    62,    74, 


865 


see 


Index  of  Names, 


Cicero,  40,  116,  2T1. 

Clark,  W.  A.,  169. 

Clarke,  R.  F.,  152,  243  f. 

Coffey,  P.,  234. 

Colvin,  S.,  43,  58,  110,  155,  189, 

214,   217,   221,   229,   244,   246, 

250,    252,    260,    264  f.,    269  f., 

287 
Conaty,  T.  J.,  19. 
Conklin,  E.  G.,  151,  153,  156  f., 

227. 
Corrance,  H.  C,  68. 
Cramer,  F.,  5,  22. 
Creighton,  J.   E.,  273. 

Dalton,  J.,  289. 

Damascene,  St.  John,  185. 

Dante,  263. 

De  la  Salle,  St.  John   Baptist, 

11,  55,  57,  60,  99,  261,  281  ff., 

287,  292  f.,  296,  300,  323. 
Descartes,  R.,  115. 
Dewey,  J.,  9,  11  f.,  16,  58,  151  f., 

207,   212,   217,   231,   246,   294. 
Dexter,  T.  F.  G.,  244. 
Dollinger,  J.  J.  I.,  44. 
Dolan,  T.  S.,  74. 
Domet  de  Vorges,  E.,  239. 
Dominic,  St.,  323. 
Donaldson,    H.     H.,    176,    223, 

333  f. 
Donat,  J.,  128. 
Driscoll,  J.  T.,  168,  206,  207  f., 

217,  231,  243,  247,  258,  294. 
Dubois-Reymond,   E.,   143. 
Dubray,   C.    A.,    106,   217,   234, 

249  f.,  282. 

Earhart,  L.  B.,  302  f.,  306. 
Ebbinghaus,  H.,  252. 
Ellwood,  C.  A.,  232,  315. 
Elwang,  W.  W.,  10. 
Emerson,  R.  W.,  24. 
Epictetus,  92. 
Epicurus,  92. 
Eucken,  R.  45  f. 


Exner  S.,  229. 
Exuperian,  Brother,  334. 

Faber,  F.  W.,  27,  40  f .,  75,  164, 

181  f.,   186,   197,  268  f.,  281  f., 

290  ff.,  297  ff.,  324. 
Faber,  P.,  181. 
Faraday,  M.,  63. 
Farges,   A.,   154,   170,   188,  224, 

236. 
Fechner,  G.  T.,  273. 
Fichte,  J.  G.,  117  f. 
Foerster,  F.  W.,  14,  17,  26,  28, 

71,  m  ff.,  140  ff.,  165  f.,  172  f., 

205,  266,  308,  322. 
Fracker,  G.  C,  301. 
Francis  de  Sales,  St.,  283,  295, 

321    332 
Frost',  E.  P.,  82,  225  f .,  228. 

Galton,  F.,  72  ff.,  337. 
Garlick,  A.  H.,  244. 
Gaume,  J.,  159. 
Gerrard,  T.  J.,  72,  337. 
Gibson,  W.  R.  B.,  46. 
Giddings,  F.   H.,  335. 
Gillet,  M.  S.,  20. 
Gordy,  J.  P.,  7,  11,  13. 
Gregory,  Nazianzen,  St.,  91,  299. 
Guibert,  J.,  82  ff.,  216. 

Haeckel,  E.,  150. 

Hall,  G.  S.,  210,  227,  332. 

Halleck,  R.  P.,  68,  174  ff.,  224  f., 

233 
Hamilton,  W.,  117  f. 
Hammond,  W.,   154. 
Harent,  S.,  108,  139,  163. 
Harper,  T.,  150,   170,  235,  237. 
Harris,  W.  T.,  137  ff.,  144. 
Hart,  J.  K.,  17. 
Heck,  H.  W.,  302  . 
Heimbucher,  M.  J.,  31,  33,  36, 

59,  67,  89  f. 
Herbart,  J.  F.,  69  f .,  214,  304. 
Herrick,  J.  C,  208. 


Index  of  Names, 


367 


Holmes,  A.,  20. 
Hooke,  T.,  154. 
Home,  H.  H.,  167  f.,  170,  177  f., 

182  fP. 
Hough,  W.  W.  S.,  46. 
Howells,  W.  D.,  173. 
Hume,  D.,  112,  115. 
Hyde,  W.  D.,  64,  92  ff. 

Ignatius  Loyola,  St.,  181. 

James,  Henry,  123. 

James,  William,  68,  110  ff.,  118, 
124,  131,  192,  208,  210  f.,  213, 
219  f.,  231  ff.,  237,  243,  250  f., 
258,  261,  294. 

Janet,  P.,  126,  139. 

Jastrow,  J.,  253  f. 

Jennings,  H.  S.,  189. 

Jerome,  St.,  299. 

Johnson,  C.   H.,   12. 

Joly,  H.,  296. 

Kant,  I.,  106,  118. 

Kegan,  Paul  C,  118. 

a  Kempis,  T.,  48  f.,  51  ff.,  140  f., 

159,   240,    264,   270,   282,   284, 

295,  324. 
King,  I.,  16,  109,  327. 
King,  R.,  3. 
Kirkpatrick,  E.  A.,  189. 
Klapper,  P.,  303. 
Koch,  F.  J.,  316. 

Ladd,   G.    T.,    155,   207,   224  ff., 

229  f. 
Lancaster,  J.,  7. 
Lange,  A.  F.,  70. 
Lange,  C,  124,  219. 
Lincoln,  A.,  142. 
Locke,  J.,  23,  152,  214,  258. 
I^ckington,  W.  J.,  173. 
Lyttleton,  E.,  26. 

Mabillon,  J.,  176. 
McKennjr,  C,  86. 


McMurry,  C,  301,  306. 

McMurry,  F,  304. 

Maher,  M.,  118  f.,  204,  206,  237, 

246. 
Maine  de  Biran,  F.,  117  f. 
Mallet,  F.,  106. 
Martha,  St.,  268. 
Martin,  St.,  91. 
Mary   Magdalen,   St.,   167,   268, 

270. 
Matthias,  A.,  80. 
Meiklejohn,  J.,  118. 
Mendel,  G.,  163. 
Mercier,  D.,  208,  245. 
Meumann,  E.,  252. 
Meyer,  M.,  232. 
Miall,  L.  C,  81,  86. 
Mill,  J.  S.,  20,  118. 
Miller,  I.  E.,  231,  246. 
Milton,  J.,  23,  164. 
Mivart,  St.  G.  J.,  218,  245. 
Monroe,   P.,   11,  58,   151  f.,  208, 

210,  246,  261,  294,  304. 
de    Montalembert,    C,    31,    35, 

43  ff.,  48,  175. 
Moore,  T.  V.,  208,  244. 
Muckermann,  H.,  150. 
Muensterberg,  H.,  80,  88. 

Newman,  J.  H.,  26,  28,  36,  46, 
56  f.,  64,  70,  85,  87,  106,  119  f., 
126,  246  f .,  258,  293,  328. 

O'Donnell,  C.  L.,  85. 
0116-Laprune,  L.,  117,  119,  161, 

170,  294  ff. 
Ozanam,  F.,  294. 

Pace,  E.  A.,  16,  84  f.,  136,  208. 

Parker,  F.  W.,  19. 

Partridge,  G.  E.,  227 

Pascal,  B.,  117  f. 

Perrier,  J.  L.,  150,  170,  207,  236. 

Perry,  C.  A.,  11. 

Philip   Neri,  St.,  292,  299. 

Phillips,  D.  E.,  81. 


368 


Index  of  Names, 


Pierce,  C.  S.,  231. 
Plato,  23,  94,  117. 
Plotinus,  172,  213. 
Pope,  H.,  106,  118,  333. 
Portali^,  E.,  46 
Pratt,  J.  B.,  Ill  ff.,  331  ff. 
Procter,  J.,  48,  60  ff. 

von  Ranke,  L.,  90  f . 

Rickaby,    John,    115,    118,    234, 

248. 
Rickaby,  Joseph,  87,  255,  259  f . 
Rosenkranz,  J.  F.  K.,  70,  72,  74. 
Ross,  E.  A.,  24,  182. 
Ruediger,  W.  C,  13,  35,  88,  212, 

301,  308. 
Ruger,  H.  A.,  252. 
Rugh,  C.  E.,  19. 
Ruskin,  J.,  24. 
Russell,  J.  E.,  8  f . 

Sanford,  E.  C,  209,  215. 
Sauvage,  G.  M.,  118,  161. 
Schroeder,  H.  H.,  80. 
Scripture,  E.  W.,  217. 
Scupoli,  L.,  295. 
Shakespeare,  W.,  24,  174  f. 
Shanahan,  E.  T.,  118,  160. 
Sherrington,  C.  S.,  229  f . 
Shields,  T.  E.,  13,  16,  70,  188  f., 

192,   208,   215,   237,   273,   310, 

328,  331. 
Siegfried,  F.  P.,  193. 
Sinnett,  P.,  118. 
Socrates,  23. 

Spalding,  J.  L.,  19,  22,  25. 
Spencer,  H.,  20  f.,  60,  85,  118. 
Spenser,  E.,  24. 
Starbuck,  E.  D.,  22,  68,  332. 
Strong,  A.  L.,  289. 
Suzzallo,  H.,  304. 

Tennyson,  A.,  24,  246,  268. 
Teresa,  St.,  288  f .,  298. 


TertulHan,  333. 

Thamiry,  E.,  183. 

Thomas  Aquinas,  St.,  32,  48, 
60  ff.,  78  f.,  87,  106,  109,  150, 
159,  170,  184  f.,  204,  213,  215, 
234  ff.,  239,  248,  255,  259. 

Thompson,  F.,  173. 

Thomson,  J.  A.,  163,  315. 

Thoreau,  H.  D.,  175. 

Thorndike,  E.  L.,  4  f .,  21,  40, 
174,  211  f.,  301,  308. 

Titchener,  E.  B.,  124,  151,  198, 
204  f .,  207  ff.,  212,  214,  216  f., 
219,  223,  225,  229  f.,  234, 
237  f .,  241  f .,  246  f .,  250,  256, 
259,  262,  267,  273  f.,  277, 
284  ff.,  290,  293. 

Toohey,  J.,  87. 

Truman,  N.  E.,  118. 

Turner,  W.,  204,  234. 

UUathorne,  W.  B.,  152. 
Ulrich,  J.  L.,  208. 

Vaughan,  J.  S.,  180. 
Vermeersch,  A.,  36,  184. 

Washburn,  M.  F.,  174,  188,  190. 
Watson,  J.  B.,  155,  174,  188  ff., 

247,  252,  257  f . 
Weber,  E.  H.,  273. 
Weismann,  A.,  163. 
Wiseman,  N.,  158. 
Witmer,  L.,  238. 
Woodworth,  R.  S.,  155,  224  ff., 

229  f 
de  Wuif,  M.,  234. 
Wundt,   W.,   55,   152,   207,   214, 

219,  234,  273,  294, 

Yerkes,  R.  M.,  190. 
Youmans,  E.  L„  63. 

Zlgliara,  T.,  207,  245. 


INDEX  OF  SUBJECTS. 


Abstraction,  a  lesson  step,  306. 

Accommodation,  110,  134,  198  f., 
202,  256  f.,  266  ff.,  283,  286, 
289,  292,  306. 

Acquired  characters,  Transmis- 
sion of,  164. 

Act,  first,  210;  human,  125; 
pure,  169  f;  second,  210. 

Actus  impurus,  192. 

Action,  automatic,  188,  216; 
ideo-motor,  251,  261  f.,  265; 
morals  and,  319;  scholastic 
view  of,  216,  237;  sensori- 
motor, 261  f.,  265. 

Activity,  Functional,  188. 

Adaptation,  165,  191,  195,  198, 
202,  263,  334;  education  and, 
171;   of  meditation,  334. 

Adjuster,  165,  245. 

Adjustment,  67,  156,  187  ff.,  336. 

Affections,  56  ff.,  122,  216,  217  f.; 
in  meditation,  283  ff.,  293, 
306  f. 

yVffective  states,  217,  237. 

Age  limitations,  67  f. 

Aim,  of  education,  60,  69,  79, 
149,  177,  239,  277  f.;  of  nor- 
mal school,  6  ff.,  23 ;  of  novi- 
tiate, 36  ff.,  69. 

Analogy,  161  ff. 

Apperception,  54,  107,  125,  132, 
191,  213  ff.,  220  f.,  234,  237  f., 
240  f.,  305,  309. 

Appetency,  217  ff.,  222,  240, 
242  f. 

Application,  a  lesson  step,  305  f . 

Apostasy,  128  f . 

Apostolate  of  teacher,  83  ff., 
327,  332  f  „  338. 


Aristotelian  ideal,  95,  99. 

Art,  119,  183,  248,  259. 

Art  of  study,  310. 

Artist  vs.  copyist,  324;  method 

of,  268. 
Asceticism,    61  ff.,    141 ;     social 

value  of,  142. 
Assets,  Social,  71. 
Assimilation,  240,  302;   mental, 

236  ff.,  240,  271. 
Association,  Mental,  120,  222  f ., 

240  ff.,     290;     in    meditation, 

307;  of  material  and  spiritual, 

of  natural  and  supernatural, 

136. 
Atrophy  of  powers  of  expres- 
sion, 123. 
Attention,    210,    212,    214,    216, 

219,  256,  267,  283,  285  ff.,  293; 

biological    aspects   of,    285  f . ; 

in  meditation,  285  f .,  298,  307. 

— See  Consciousness. 
Attitude,  27,   109  f.,  122  f.,  169, 

275;     Christian,     128,     135  f., 

221,  310;  of  faith,  59  f.,  107, 
128,  137,  310;  pagan,  117;  sci- 
entific, 121  f .,  259 ;  sympa- 
thetic, 56,  121. 

Authority,   113  f.,   120  f.,   138  f.; 

belief  on,  331;  divine,  133. 
Automatic  acts,  188,  226. 
Automatism,  266. 
Axons,  224  f .,  230. 

Behavior,  43,  82,  109  f .,  126,  155, 

222,  232,  250,  258  f . 
Behaviorism,  155,  205,  214,  246, 

267  f     283  f 
Belief,  106  ff.,  112,  117  f.;  emo- 


369 


370 


Index  of  Subjects. 


tional,  115  f.;  inarticulate, 
113;  instinctive,  115  f.;  rea- 
soned, 1141;  types  of,  112  ff. 
— See  Faith. 

Bible,  English,  24;  study  of, 
48  f . ;  how  to  read,  54  f . ; 
spirit  of  faith  and,  59. 

Biology,  150  ff. ;  Catholic  psy- 
chologists and,  219. 

Boy  Scouts,  270. 

Brain  as  organ  of  mind,  167  f. 

Brothers  of  the  Christian 
Schools,  55,  QO,  99,  159,  261, 
292  f.,  296,  300,  316,   333  f. 

California  Prize  Essays,  4. 

Calvinists,  332. 

Cardinal  virtues,  40,  85. 

Cartesian  doubt,   115. 

Catechism  lesson,  296,  306,  331. 

Causality,  Principle  of,  236. 

Celibacy,  72  ff.,  337. 

Cell,  154  ff.,  224  ff. 

Cenobites,  299. 

Central  nervous  system,  156. 

Certitude,  234. 

Character,    19  ff.,    27,    69,     71, 

79,    81  f.,    85,    146,    216,    249, 

262,   274,   276  f.;    desire    and, 

249,   284;    formation   of,   9  f ., 

126  f. 
Characters  of  Scripture,  271. 
Charity,  101;  fraternal,  59,  101, 

324  f.;  law  of,  71;  works  of, 

69,  73  f . 
Christianity,   Regenerative 

power  of,  165  f. 
Church  and  education,  82  ff. 
Circular  process,  276,  297. — See 

Imitatioi^_,  Persistent. 
Civilization,  89  f . 
Cognition,    111,    210,    218,    237, 

239  f.,   245,   258,   281,   291;    in 

meditation,     283 ;     expression 

and,  271  ff.,  275  f. 
Qommandments,  QQ. 


Complete,  living,  60,  85;  man, 
23,  67. 

Communion  of  saints,  124. 

Community-life,  90;  spirit,  59, 
320,  324  f . 

Conation,  216  f.,  275;  in  medi- 
tation, 283,  291. 

Concept,  63,  190,  243  ff.,  247  f.; 
Home's  concept  of  God,  183 
ff.;  of  method,  302;  vs.  per- 
cept, 152,  240. 

Conception,   Intellectual,  238. 

Conclusions,  Verifying,  303. 

Conduct  and  education,  63. 

Conductivity,  154  f . 

Conductor,  155,  245. 

Conflict  between  individual  and 
society,  320  f. 

Congregations,  Religious,  31. 

Conscience,  Examination  of, 
50  ff.,  293 

Consciousness,  111,  151  f.,  173, 
204,  206,  214,  216,  225,  227  f., 
232  f.,  237,  242  f.,  247  f.,  253, 
256,  261,  273,  276,  295. 

Conservation,  creation  and,  193; 
principle  of,  131. 

Conservatism   of   religious,  318. 

Considerations  in  meditation, 
293  f. 

Conversion,  68,  120;  means  of 
effecting,  284,  331  f. 

Co-operation,  34,  116,  317,  319. 

Correction,  Fraternal,  59,  167, 
223  f .,  324  f . 

Cortex,  Cerebral,  120,  156. 

Council,  of  Orange,  163;  of 
Trent,  69,  81. 

Counsels,  Evangelical,  33, 42,  QQ, 

Courage  in  religious,  298. 

Creation,  193. 

Creature,  meaning  of,  39  f . ;  so- 
cial consequence  of  being,  40. 

Credence,  258. 

Credulity,  Primitive,  113,  331, 
333. 


index  of  Subjects. 


371 


Creed  and  "plasticity,"  196  f. 

Culture,  70  f.,  89  f.;  debt  of,  to 
church,  76,  89;  eugenics  and, 
72;  faith  and,  131,  145;  spir- 
itual, 172;  of  teacher,  83  f. 

Culture  Epoch  Theory,  150. 

Cumulative  attribute  of  thought, 
124. — See  Stimuli,  Summation 

OF. 

Curriculum — of  normal  school, 
11  ff.,  24;  of  novitiate,  43  ff., 
69,  133;  of  school,  228. 

Cytology,  154. 

Dark  Ages,  71  f.,  332  f. 

Definition,  243  f. 

Degeneration,  165  f.,  195,  200  f. 

Dendrites,  224  f.,  230. 

Desire  and  character,  249,  284. 

Deterioration  of  national  type, 
23. 

Development,  153,  156  f .,  168  if., 
175  f.,  181,  188,  196;  moral, 
27,  54,  62,  69,  176,  181,  261, 
266;  in  novitiate,  66,  141, 
201  f .,  278. 

"Discharge"  as  function  of  re- 
flex arc,  191,  225  f.,  229  f.,  267, 
298,  307. 

Discipline— of  Church,  263,  331; 
of  faith,  140. 

Disintegration,  in  individual, 
331;  of  family,  6. 

Disposition,  249;  for  faith,  328. 

Double-aspect  Theory,  208,  234, 
242  f. 

Doubt,  107;  faith  and,  106  f., 
115;  scientific,  302  f. 

Dynamic  vs.  static  tendency, 
34  f.,  127,  152. 

Dynamo  genesis,  198,  267. 

Education,  Concept  of,  153,  159, 
163;  culture  and,  72  f.;  func- 
tion of,  70;  ideals  and,  63; 
life  and,  22  f.;  means  and 
aims  of,  80;  moral,  27;  per- 


sonality and,  76  ff. ;  problem 
of,  262;  as  profession,  35. 

Educative  process,  64,  69. 

Effectors,  223  f. 

Efficiency — in  novitiate,  66,  90; 
social,  79,  82,  117,  125,  133  ff., 
149. 

"Ejects,"  322  f. 

Elimination  of  pupils,  4. 

Embryos,  227. 

Emotions,  55  ff.,  123,  141,  212, 
215;  control  of,  260  ff.,  265  ff., 
269  ff.;  genetic  theory  of,  198; 
James-Lange  theory  of,  124, 
219;  spiritual,  219. 

Entelechy,  154. 

Environment,  5,  68,  82,  162  f., 
168  ff.,  173  ff.,  177  ff.;  Christ 
and,  184  ff.;  faith  and,  27, 
119  f.;  Fathers  of  Desert  and, 
175  f.;  first  Christians  and, 
166  f.;  natural  and  supernat- 
ural, 179  ff.;  of  novice,  178  f., 
184  ff. ;  pedagogical  value  of,  5, 
119ff.,  180ff.;  phases  of,  168f.; 
physical,  170,  173,  253;  prayer 
and,  181  f . ;  religious  orders 
and,  175,  201  f.;  selection  and, 
5,  171,  177  f.;  social,  80,  169, 
171,  173,  180,  182,  253;  spir- 
itual, 177  ff.,  184,  253. 

Epicurean  ideal,   92  f.,   98. 

Eugenics,  151,  157;  Catholicity 
and,  72;  culture  and,  72. 

Evolution,  16,  110  f.,  137,  150, 
152,  181,  315. 

Example,  42,  65,  91,  124  f.,  131; 
of  saints,  140  f .,  298.— See  Imi- 
tation ;  Environment,  So- 
cial. 

Exemplar  cause,  42,  272. 

Exercises,  Spiritual,  43  ff.,   105. 

Experience,  20  f .,  56  f .,  169,  189, 
207  f.,  241,  249,  287,  294  ff., 
322  f .,  330  f . ;  moral  sense  and, 
20. 


dn 


Index  of  Subjects. 


Expresion  as  means  of  develop- 
ment, 123,  125,  130,  182,  272. 

Facilitation  of  stimuli,  228  f., 
273  f .,  277. 

Failures  in  life,  86. 

Faith,  38,  84flP.;  acts  of,  106  f., 
109,  119  ff.,  123,  125;  attitude 
of,  59  f . ;  biological  aspects  of, 
149  ff.,  158  ff.,  168  ff.,  187  ff., 
200  ff . ;  Christian,  made  science 
possible,  143  f . ;  comprehensive- 
ness of,  126,  129,  143;  concept 
of,  105  f.,  116;  culture  aspect 
of,  131,  144  f . ;  development 
of,  122  ff.,  128  f.,  130,  337  f.; 
dispositions  for,  109,  121,  123, 
328;  divine,  28,  101,  106,  108  f ; 
elements  of,  125;  elements  of 
divine,  125;  environment  and, 
27,  119  f.,  175  f.;  exercise  of, 
119  ff.;  fostered  by  medita- 
tion, 281  ff.,  291  ff.,  300  ff., 
309 ff.;  genesis  of,  110;  habit 
of,  69  f.,  126,  130,  333;  hered- 
ity and,  159  ff.,  164  f.;  human, 
28  f.,  100,  106,  108;  inhibition 
and,  127  ff.;  kinds  of,  108, 
112;  merit  of,  125;  method  of, 
137  f.,  141  f.;  nature  of,  106  f.; 
necessity  of,  100  ff. ;  object  of, 
107  f . ;  objective  aspect  of, 
133  ff.,  145 ;  original  sin  and, 
164 ;  pedagogical  value  of,  108, 
119,  129,  133  ff.,  137  ff.,  145  f., 
149  ff.,  204  ff.,  220  f.,  300  ff., 
309  f .,  315  ff.,  327  ff. ;  plas- 
ticity and,  192  ff.;  196,  202, 
199;  practice  and,  123,  127, 
130,  135  f . ;  psychological  as- 
pects of,  204  ff.,  221  ff.,  230  ff., 
248  ff.,  275  ff.;  school  and,  261, 
327  ff.;  science  and,  106  ff., 
124  f .,  128,  130,  138,  143  f . ;  so- 
cial value  of,  40,  121  f ., 
140  ff.,  298,  325  f.,  336  f.;  So- 


ciety for  Propagation  of,  336 ; 
sociological  aspects  of,  126, 
137  f.,  181  ff.,  299,  315  ff., 
327  ff.,  341,  343  f.;  spirit  of, 
41,  64,  59  f.,  63  ff.,  84  f.,  88, 
101,  110,  146,  286  f.,  337  f.; 
subjective  aspects  of,  137  ff., 
145;  will  and,  107  ff.,  109,  125, 
127. 

Fall  of  Adam,  45,  162  ff. 

Fallen  state  of  man,  164  ff. 

Fathers,  of  Church,  175  f.;  of 
Desert,  91,  175,  285,  299;  Ni- 
cene  and  Post-Nicene,  74. 

Fatigue  of  nerves,  226. 

Feeling,  aspect  of  conscious- 
ness, 122,  217,  220,  237,  275, 
291;  background.  111  f.;  fund 
of,  319;  in  meditation,  283; 
reality,  113  f.;  religion  of, 
lllff.,  330  f. 

Fervor,  First,  68. 

Fibrillar  Theory,  226. 

Focalization  of  consciousness, 
111,  216,  250,  256,  259. 

Form,  Substantial,  235. 

Founders,  Religious,  338. 

Free  Ideas,  Method  of,  189  f. 

Function,  151  ff. ;  of  nervous 
system,  156;  of  religious 
teacher,  337  f . ;  sociological,  of 
faith,  182  f.,  315  ff.,  327  ff. 

Functional  activity,  153. 

Gary  system.  The,  300. 

Generalization,  a  lesson  step, 
305. 

Genetic,  idea,  196;  material,  16; 
method,  16  f.,  26,  212;  psy- 
chology, 171,  210,  212;  theory 
of  emotion,  198. 

Germ,  cells,  157,  227;  theory, 
160. 

Gifted  men,  74. 

Good  example,  65,  91,  124,  131; 
of  saints,  140  f .,  298. 


Index  of  Subjects. 


378 


Grace,  nature  and,  260;  plas- 
ticity and,  194  flP.,  202  f. 

Groups,  Social,  317  flP. ;  in  novi- 
tiate, 317,  320,  329  f.,  338  f.; 
in  school,  328  f.;  small,  337  f. 

Growth,  163. 

Habit,  21,  68,  110,  120,  123,  130, 
191  f.,  198,  202,  215,  221  f., 
248  ff.,  260  ff.,  265  ff.,  269  ff., 
273  f.,  276,  286  f.,  289,  292, 
309,  341 ;  change  of,  68, 260  ff., 
265  ff.,  269  ff.;  dangers  of, 
256  f.;  disintegration  of,  267; 
effects  of,  255  ff.;  of  faith, 
69  f.,  126,  130,  333;  instinct 
and,  260;  formation  of, 
260  ff.;  laws  of,  19,8,  250  ff.;  in 
novitiate,  88,  101;  physiologi- 
cal basis  of,  213  ff.,  221  ff., 
235,  249;  of  prayer,  285  f., 
297. 

Hell,  263. 

Heredity,  73,  164,  166  f.,  168  ff., 
162  f.,  166  ff.,  200  ff.,  221,  249, 
340 ;  development  and,  166  f ., 
168;  meaning  of,  157. 

Heresy,  260,  320  f.,  324. 

Heritage,  157. 

Hierarchy  of  unities  in  novice, 
172  ff.,  187  ff. 

High-school  age  of  pupils,  331  f. 

History,  indebted  to  monks,  89. 

Humility,  86,  288;  courage  and, 
298;  as  plasticity,  288  f. 

Idea,  Intellectual,  243  ff.,  247  f . ; 
of  movement,  258;  vs.  sense- 
representation,   152,  218. 

Ideals  in  education,  8,  22,  37  ff., 
42,  49,  92  ff.,  336;  Aristotelian, 
96;  Christian,  95  ff.,  311,  335; 
Epicurean,  92  f.;  of  novice, 
37,  69,  311,  335;  Platonic,  94; 
qualities  of,  37;  Stoic,  93  f. 

Ideomotor,  action,  261  f.,  272; 
suggestion,  297;  theory,  123. 


Images,  218  f. 

Imagination,  57,  214;  experience 
and,  296. 

Imitation,  42,  125,  253,  189  f., 
198,  272,  297,  317,  319;  per- 
sistent, 233,  271  ff.,  276,  283, 
297,  336;  saints  and,  271  f. 

Imitation  of  Christ,  49. — See  a 
Kempis. 

Immanence  of  action,  154. 

Impression  as  factor  in  cogni- 
tion, 230,  307. 

Incarnation,  162,  165,  184  f.,  202. 

Individual  and  Society,  319  ff. 

Individuality  of  pupil,  134  f . 

Inheritance,  Spiritual,  13,  328. 

Inhibition,  68,  79  f.,  127,  222; 
faith  and,  127  ff.;  function  of, 
128  f.,  170,  174,  227,  287;  in 
meditation,  287;  of  movement, 
287,  330;  novice  and,  69  f.;  so- 
cial aspects  of,  127,  320  f . ;  of 
tendencies,  116,  222,  229,  264, 
259,  287,  330. 

Initiative,  251,  254. 

Instinct,  188,  226  f.,  231,  249  f.; 
habit  and,  250;  modification 
of,  260  ff.,  265  ff.,  269  ff.;  sub- 
limation of,  269. 

Integration,  190  ff.,  224,  240, 
242;  of  habit,  191,  215,  252, 
276. 

Intellection,  Theory  of,  243  ff. 

Interest,  54,  121,  130  f.,  222;  in 
saints,  130. 

Introspection,  53.— See  Consci- 
ousness. 

Irritability,  164  f. 

James-Lange  theory  of  emotion, 

124. 
Jesuits,  292  f . 
Judgment,  34. 

Knowledge,  as  aim  of  education, 
Q9i  fund  of,  319;  reliability 
of,  234. 


374 


Index  of  Subjects, 


Labor,  Manual,  of  monks,  43  ff., 
89. 

Law,  of  dynamo  genesis,  198, 
267;  of  love,  263,  266;  respect 
for  letter  and  spirit  of,  318; 
Weber's,  273. 

Leadership,  Novices'  training 
for,  338  f . 

Learning,  43,  155,  189,  203, 
221  if.,  226  ff.,  234,  246,  309, 
316  ff.,  340;  cognitive  aspect 
of,  221  f . ;  meditation  and,  57, 
222,  297,  306 ;  motor  aspect  of, 
222;  physiological  aspect  of, 
221  f .,  224,  309 ;  social  aspect 
of,  222. 

Lesson.  —  See  Recitation, 
Method  of;  Teaching^  Types 

OF. 

Libraries,  Debt  of,  to  monks,  89. 

Life,  21,  150,  154  ff.;  education 
and,  22  f . ;  experimental  char- 
acter of,  140 ;  religious,  30  ff ., 
37,  75,  159  f.;  spiritual,  158  f., 
201,  334;  virginal,  73  ff.,  92. 

Limitations,  of  normal  school, 
in  aim,  21  ff . ;  curriculum,  24 ; 
method,  25  f.;  spirit,  27;— of 
novitiate,  general,  QQ;  spe- 
cial, 67  ff. ;  as  to  age,  67;  cul- 
ture, 70;  educative  process, 
69;  moral  development,  69; 
vows,  70  ff. 

Literature,  English,  24;  popu- 
lar, spread  by  monks,  89. 

Litterateur   vs.    scientist,   258  f . 

Little  things.  Importance  of,  268, 
319  f.,   327.— See   Vabiations. 

Macrocosm,  46. 

Man  as  creature.  Christian,  and 

religious,  38  ff.,  192. 
Manicheans,  172. 
Meaning,  215,  243. 
Medieval  Christians,  48,  72,  246, 

333  f. 


Meditation,  55,  57  f.,  131,  281  ff., 
341 ;  aim  of,  53  ff. ;  curriculum 
of,  53  f.;  elements  of,  291  ff., 
301,  304;  emotions  and,  55  ff.; 
habit  and,  58;  Ignatian 
method  of,  57,  292  f.,  297;  in- 
hibition in,  287  f . ;.  learning 
process  and,  57;  matter  of, 
53,  281  ff.,  304,  310;  method 
(general),  of,  54;  motivation 
in,  65,  58,  292,  307;  nature  of, 
281  ff.,  300  f.,  304  f ;  pedagogi- 
cal value  of,  300  ff.,  323  f.; 
preparation  for,  54,  285  ff., 
288  ff.;  psychology  of,  281  ff.; 
purpose  of,  55;  as  reaction 
experiment,  284  f.;  recitation 
method  aifd,  304  ff. ;  value  of, 
282,  284,  296,  299,  308,  321, 
323;  spirit  of,  54;  study  and, 
301  ff.,  304,  306  f.,  310;  Sul- 
pician  method  of,  57,  292  f., 
297;  teacher  and,  56  ff.,  278, 
284,  300. 

Memory,  120,  125,  187,  249,  267; 
in  meditation,  53,  293;  or- 
ganic, 191  f.,  223,  227. 

Mental — development,  54,  170  f., 
173  f.,  176  f.,  180  ff.,  221  f.; 
processes,  151  f.,  204,  206,  208, 
211  ff.,  217  ff.,  310  f. 

Metabolism,   136,   155,  240. 

Method,  16;  of  artist,  268;  con- 
cept of,  302;  of  conversion, 
331  f.;  efficacy  of,  189  f.;  of 
faith,  143  ff.;  of  free  ideas, 
189  f.;  genetic,  16  f.,  26,  212; 
of  imitation,  189  f . ;  of  modi- 
fying instinct,  260  ff.,  265  ff., 
269  ff. ;  in  normal  school,  16 
ff . ;  in  novitiate,  50  ff.,  68  f . ; 
perseverance,  189  f.;  "try-try- 
again,"  272. 

Microcosm,  46. 

Mind,  204  f.,  233;  functions  of, 
217. 


Index  of  Subjects. 


376 


Missionaries  and  teachers,  336. 

Modernism,   184. 

Monks,  Services  of,  89  f . 

Mood,  249. 

Moral   education,    14  f.,   27,   62, 

69,  176,  181;  inclusiveness  of, 

8ff.,  96  f^. 
Moral  sense,  Spencer's  view  of, 

20  f. 
Morality,    149;    normal    school 

and,  9,  14  f.,  69. 
Morphology,  151. 
Mortification  as  inhibition,  287  f . 
Motion,  237. 
Motion  pictures,  262. 
Motivation,  55  f.,  222,  253,  292; 

clearness   of   ideas   and,   293; 

meditation      and,     55  f .,     58, 

292  f .,  307. 
Motives,  55  f .,  82,  292. 
Motor  habits,  215;  nervous  sys- 
tem and,  156. 
Movement,    Idea    of,    251,    258, 

272;  Church  and,  251. 

Name,   Change   of,   by  novices, 

59. 
National  Education  Association, 

6f.,   10,   12,   14,   18  f.,  24. 
Need,  Our  greatest,  5. 
Neo-Platonists,  172,  213. 
Nerve,  centers,  190  ff. ;  currents, 

225  f.,     267,     298;     elements, 
plasticity  of,  190  f.;  impulse, 

226  f. 

Nerves,  afferent,  220;  education 
and,  223;  efferent,  220;  func- 
tion of,  223  f.;  motor,  220, 
230;    sensory,   220,   230. 

Neurone  Theory,  224  ff.,  230,  254. 

Neurosis,  227. 

Normal  School,  aim  of,  6,  23; 
"Bible"  of,  18;  curriculum  of, 
11  ff.,  24;  faculty  of,  7;  func- 
tion of,  3,  7,  14;  graduates, 
power   of,   6;    limitations   of, 


21  ff.,  100;  methods  of,  16  ff.; 
moral  education  and,  14  f . ; 
movement,  4;  of  religious  life, 
35 ;  spirit  of,  18  ff. ;  statistics, 
3. 

Novice,  36  f . ;  as  creature,  39  f ., 
87;  ideals  of,  for  self,  69,  87; 
in  teaching,  96  ff.,  310  f .,  333  f., 
336  ff. ;  as  religious,  42,  87. 

Novitiate,  30,  34;  aim  and  na- 
ture of,  36  ff.,  69 ;  curriculum 
of,  43  ff.,  69,  88;  efficiency  of, 
90;  habit-formation  in,  88, 
101;  limitations  of,  66  f^.; 
method  in,  50  ff.,  58  f.,  69;  so- 
cial value  of,  67  ff.,  87  ff.; 
spirit  of,  59  ff.,  69 ;  training 
in,  87. 

Observer,  Practised,  259. 

Occasions,  68;  of  sin,  174. 

Old-fogeyism,  68. 

Ontogeny,  150. 

Orange,  Council  of,  163. 

Orders,  Religious,  30  f . 

Organism,  concept  of,  160;  en- 
vironment of,  168  ff. ;  heredity 
of,  158  ff. ;  man  not  mere,  165. 

Organization,  151,  168,  242;  of 
material  for  study,  303;  so- 
cial, 30  ff.,  315  ff.,  319,  336  f., 
341  f. 

Original  justice,  41,  162  f.;  sin, 
162  ff.,  200  ff. 

Parallelism,  Psychophysical,  208, 
234,  242. 

Parson,  78. 

Particular  examen,  51  ff. 

Passion,  Ruling,  51. 

Passions,  143,  218. 

Pedagogical,  aspects  of  faith, 
133  ff.,  137  ff.,  149  ff.,  204  ff., 
315  ff.,  317  ff.,  334,  337  f.;  value 
of  faith,  108,  114,  116  f.,  120  ff., 
129,     133  ff.,    316;     value     of 


376 


Index  of  Subjects, 


meditation,  300  ff.,  304  fF., 
323  ff. 

Pedagogy,  Courses  in,  3  f .,  12, 
211  f. 

Perception,  213,  216,  220  f., 
234  ff.,  238  ff.,  243,  248  f., 
276  f .,  309. 

Perfection,  State  of,  32,  60,  62, 
87,  98.— See  Life  and  Re- 
ligious. 

Person,   77  ff. 

Personal  equation,  136,  216  f., 
268,  292,  294. 

Personality,  19,  21,  76  ff.;  Chris- 
tian concept  of,  76  f . ;  devel- 
opment of,  42,  58,  76,  98  ff., 
126  f.,  134  f.,  141  f.,  340;  ex- 
ercise of,  320  ff. ;  freedom  of, 
vs.  social  demands,  98;  God 
and,  76  f . ;  man  and,  76  f . ;  of 
normal  school  students,  16  f. ; 
pagan  concept  of,  76 ;  social 
aspect  of,  77;  "suggestion," 
332;  of  teacher,  10,  15  f.,  21, 
81,   92  ff.,    146. 

Phylogeny,    150. 

Physiology,  161. 

Plasticity,  154,  187  ff.,  196, 
202  f.,  213,  221,  288,  316,  340; 
spiritual,  192,  196,  299;  learn- 
ing and,  189;  of  novice,  194  ff., 
198  ff. 

Platonic  ideal,  94,  99. 

Postulant,  34. 

Potency,  170. 

Practice,  35,  269,  296;  of  medi- 
tation, 341;  of  righteous  liv- 
ing, 343. 

Pragmatism,  207  f.,  231,  247, 
268  ff. 

Prayer,  47  ff.,  166 ;  in  classroom, 
333;  environment  and,  181  f.; 
mental,  281  ff. ;  private  and 
public,  47;  psychology  of, 
289;  social  value  of,  43  ff.,  47  f. 
— See  Meditation. 


Preparation,  a  lesson  step,  304  f. 

Presentation  of  matter  in  les- 
son, 306. 

Problem,  as  factor  in  study, 
302  f.;    most    urgent,   320. 

Process,  in  general,  151;  brain, 
241;  circular,  276,  297;  psy- 
choneural,  241. 

Processes,  Mental,  151  f.,  217, 
275,  309;   in   meditation,  304. 

Profession,  in  general,  8,  81; 
education  as,  35;  religious, 
33  ff.,   69. 

Progress,  307  f . ;  spiritual,  and 
meditation,  299. 

"Projects,"  322  f. 

Propagation  of  Faith,  Society 
for,  336. 

Protoplasm,  154. 

Psychology,  analytical,  209;  de- 
scriptive, 212,  221;  experi- 
mental, 208 ;  functional,  209  f ., 
212;  genetic,  171,  210  f.,  212, 
221;  social  aspect  of,  122, 
204  f.;  structural,  209  f.; 
teaching  and,   171,  211  f. 

Psychosis,  227. 

Public,  morals,  319;  opinion, 
319. 

Reaction,  in  concept  of  educa- 
tion, 140  f .,  216,  220,  230,  233, 
237,  246,  249;  circular,  276, 
284 ;  meditation  as,  284  f . ; 
moral,  266;  social,  317  f. 

Reading,  Spiritual,  54  ff. 

Reality-feeling,   112  ff. 

Rebound  effect,  229. 

Recapitulation  Theory,  160. 

Receptors,   155,  224,  245. 

Recitation,  Method  of,  and 
meditation,  304  ff. 

Recreation  in  novitiate,  50. 

Redemption,  162  f.,  166,  200, 
202. 

Reflections  for  class  use,  297. 


Index  of  Subjects, 


377 


Reflex  action  as  type,  230  ff., 
233  flP.,  240  ff.,  244  ff.;  arc, 
233  ff.,  275,  310. 

Reflexes,  188,  227,  249  f.,  261. 

Regenerative  power  of  Christi- 
anity, 165  ff. 

Reinforcement  of  stimuli,  228  f ., 
241,  273  f.,  277. 

Religion,  emotional,  115  f.;  of 
feeling,  112  f.,  330;  in  normal 
school,  12,  14  ff. ;  science  and, 
107,  125,  127  f.,  135  f.,  143  f., 
154;  of  thought,  114  f. 

Religious,  Meaning  of,  32;  ref- 
ormation  of,   321  f. 

Religious — belief  of  child,  25; 
congregations,  31 ;  develop- 
ment, 22  f.;  life,  30  ff.,  37, 
61  f .,  159  f . ;  novitiate,  30 ; 
orders,  30  f .,  36 ;  profession, 
33  ff.;  sanctions,  22;  state, 
32  f.;  teacher's  function,  337. 
— See  Life,  Monks,  Novice, 
Novitiate. 

Repetition  as  factor  in  forming 
habit,  250  f . 

Resolutions  of  meditation,  284, 
293,  296,  298,  304  ff.,  307. 

Response  to  stimuli,  153  f. ;  de- 
layed, 64,  99,  261. 

Retention,  192. 

Retreat,  Annual,  for  religious, 
334;  for  pupils,  334. 

Rivalry,  173,  319  f. 

Ruling  passion,  51. 

Sacraments  and  "plasticity," 
195  f.,  202. 

Sacrifice  of  Mass,  47,  49. 

Saints,  130,  140  f.;  how  to  read 
lives  of,  54  f . ;  as  leaders,  130, 
140  f.,  271,  323;  social  value 
of,  271 ;  works  of,  268  f . 

Sanctity,  63. 

Scholastic  philosophy,  192,  204, 
213,  328. 


Schoolmen,  205,  210,  218  ff., 
244  f. 

Science,  209  f.;  faith  and,  106  f., 
124  f.,  129  f.,  135  f.,  138  f., 
143  f .,  146 ;  favored  by  monks, 
89. 

Scientist,  Method  of,  268;  vs. 
litterateur,  258  f. 

Selection,  principle  of,  6,  41, 
133,  173,  190,  192,  214;  Church 
as  principle  of,  222;  educa- 
tion and,  167  f .,  171,  181 ;  en- 
vironment and,  177  f.— See 
Inhibition. 

Self-denial  10,  25,  61,  63  f.,  71, 
73  f.,  79  f .,  97  f.,  140  f.,  142  f ., 
267. — See  Asceticism. 

Self-examination,,  50  ff.,  87,  101. 

Self-mastery,  25,  52,  63,  71, 
79  f.,  87,  141. 

Self-realization,  25,  71,  80,  87. 

Sensation,  213  ff.,  218. 

Sensorimotor  action,  261  f.,  265. 

Sensory  nervous  system,  156. 

Servile  works,  44  f . 

Silence,  285. 

Sisters,  Catholic,  142  f. 

Situation  in  psychological  sense, 
216. 

Social,  aim  of  education,  11,  23, 
102,  125,  149  f.;  assets,  69; 
betterment,  157;  demands  vs. 
personal  freedom,  98,  320  f ., 
324  f.;  environment,  182 ; 
groups,  317  f. ;  ideal  of  noviti- 
ate, 42  f .,  334  f . ;  inheritance, 
13,  328;  service,  79,  101, 
133  ff.,  137  ff.,  326  f.,  329. 

Social  Value,  of  change  of  name 
by  novice,  59;  of  faith,  110, 
119  ff.,  125,  130,  141,  298, 
315  ff.,  325  f.,  327  ff.,  336  f.; 
of  meditation,  296,  298;  of 
method  in  novitiate,  58  f . ;  of 
novitiate,  68  f.,  87  f.;  of  or- 
ganization,  315;    of   religious 


,# 


378 


Index  of  Subjects, 


habit,    B9;    of   summation   of 
stimuli,  274;  of  work,  43  ff. 

Society,  and  individual,  317  ff. ; 
and  teacher,  79  f.,  83  f . 

Societies,  Perfect,  315,  328  f. 

Sociological  Aspects — of  accom- 
modation, 268  f . ;  of  faith, 
121  f.,  124  f.,  138  f.,  298,  310, 
316;  of  inhibition,  68, 128  f.;  of 
learning,  222 ;  of  novitiate,  67  ff. 

Sociology  and  religious  found- 
ers, 323  f. 

Solidarity,  317  f. 

Soul,  204. 

Spirit — Christian,  85;  of  normal 
school,  18  ff. ;  of  novitiate, 
59  ff.,  69,  87,  291. 

Spiritual,  cares  of  monks,  90; 
inheritance,  13,  328;  reading, 
54  ff. ;  sense,  51. 

Spontaneity,    154. 

Standards,  educational,  133  f . ; 
religious   and   ethical,   88. 

State  of  perfection,  62. 

Static  vs.  dynamic  tendency, 
34  f.,  152. 

Steps  in  recitation,  304  ff. 

Stimuli,  facilitation  of,  228  f.; 
reinforcement  of,  228  f . ;  sum- 
mation of,  273  f .,  329,  336. 

Stoic  ideal,  93  f .,  98. 

Struggle  for  existence^  200. 

Study,  283,  301,  302;  art  of, 
310;  elective,  134;  logical,  302 
ff. ;  meditation  and,  301  ff.,  304, 
306  f.,  310;  in  novitiate,  45  f., 
49;  psychological,  302  f.;  of 
Scripture,  48. 

"Subjects,"  322  f. 

Sublimation  of  instinct,  269. 

Suggestion,     277 ;     ideo  -  motor, 

297;   religious,   333. 
Sunday  school,  330. 

Supernatural  order,  41,  126,  158, 
160,  162  ff.,  166,  179,  194  ff., 
199,  263  ff.,  270,  276,  338, 


Synapse,  225  f.,  228,  254. 

Teacher,  Apostolate  and  cul- 
ture of,  83;  faith  of,  84; 
ideals  of,  8,  92  ff.,  335  f.;  as 
leader,  6;  meditation  and, 
56  ff.,  278,  284,  300;  person- 
ality of,  10,  92,  ff. ;  relation  of, 
to  Church  and  State,  83;  re- 
lation of,  to  God  and  to  so- 
ciety, 83;  training  of,  17, 
211  f. 

Teachers  of  fourth  century,  91. 

Teaching — ethical  aim  of,  8  f . ; 
ideals  in,  92  ff.,  329,  333  f., 
337  f . ;  meditation  and,  300  ff ., 
304  f.,  306  ff.;  theory  and 
practice  of,  13;  types  of,  306. 

Temperament,  249. 

Tendencies,  associative,  241 ;  dy- 
namic vs.  static,  34  f .,  152. 

Testament,  New,  49. 

Theology,  developed  by  monks, 
89. 

Things  vs.  processes,  151. 

Thought,  246  f.,  302  ff.;  devel- 
oped by  meditation,  307;  re- 
ligion of,   114  f.,  331. 

Thought-situation,  217,  246  f., 
32  f. 

Traditionalists,  117  f. 

Transfer  of  training,  301,  308  f ., 
310,  341. 

Trent,  Council  of,  69,  81. 

Trinity,  185;  modernistic  view 
of,  184. 

Understanding,      Religion      of, 

114  f.,  331. 
Unity  in  novice,  46  f.,  172. 

Variations,  258,  319,  324,  327  f., 

329,  336. 
Vaudeville,  262. 

Vernacular,  aided  by  monks,  89. 
Vincent   de   Paul,   St.,   Confer- 

enceis  of,  336, 


Index  of  Subjects. 


^7& 


Virginity,  73  fP.,  92. 

Virtue,  acts  of,  277  f . ;  education 
and,  70;  intellectual  vs.  moral, 
259  f. 

Virtues,  cardinal,  40,  85;  nat- 
ural, 86;  supernatural,  86; 
theological,  86. 

Vocation,  in  general,  81;  re- 
ligious, 31,  33,  67,  336. 

Volition,  204,  217,  245,  259  f., 
267.— See  Will. 

"Vorstellung,"  152. 


Vows,  Religious,  31,  68  f.,  61  f., 
64,  68  ff.,  89,  199. 

Warfare    between    science    and 

religion,  135,  139  f. 
Weber's  Law,  273. 
"Weltanschauung,"  135. 
Will,  34,  82,  217  f.,  223,  225,  231, 

242  f.,  255,  263;  habit,  252.— 

See  IxsTixcT,  Modification^  of. 
Work,     Socializing     aspect     of, 

43flP. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 
BERKELEY 


Return  to  desk  from  which  borrowed. 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


DEC  24  1947 


m? 


20Nov'55KO 
8 1955 J^ 


LD  21-100m-9,'47(A5702sl6)476 


!2Jan'63RV 

ytU22    - 


9 


)r^^<^ 


YB  05382 


3R30li 


LC4 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  UBRARY 


Ml!  Ml!  UMt  HUUy 


